


Just As You Are

by gracesjasons (sweetharry)



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, F/M, Personal Growth, Romantic Fluff, School Reunion, Stubborn Annabeth Chase, Weddings, Workplace, angry Annabeth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:33:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 27,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23659171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetharry/pseuds/gracesjasons
Summary: Annabeth is in a slump. An enormous slump. A slump so gigantic that the last time Annabeth remembers genuinely enjoying stuff was when she was back in high school. 7 years after the slump began, a miracle happens. Her best friend gets engaged.or, the one where Annabeth receives a reintroduction to Percy Jackson, the Best Man to her Maid of Honor, and he reminds her that even with the hard stuff, life is meant to be enjoyed.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase/Piper McLean
Comments: 26
Kudos: 139





	1. We’re engaged!

“Really? Again?”  
“What?”

“You’re back. You know we don’t offer punch cards here.”

“Oh fuck off, I know you don’t offer punch cards.”

“Then what’re you doing here for the third time this month?”

“What do you think I’m doing here? I want you to give me the goggles so I can smash printers for an hour.”

“Annabeth, if you’re coming to my break room three times in a month, I think you should stop smashing printers, and maybe find someone to talk to. You know, about your, whaddya call em’ - _womanly_ feelings.”

Annabeth bites back a retort, breathing angrily through her nose. If she wasn’t mad enough, this asshole is really getting her to her breaking point. She takes a second to calm herself, before offering the man behind the desk a half-convincing smile. 

“Gee, I think you’re right. Thanks for the advice. I obviously don’t know what’s best for myself, so I’m glad I have men like you to help me figure it out.”

The man gives her a smile, and god, Annabeth can’t believe he really took that as genuine. People are idiots. 

Thankfully the interaction is over soon as the man pulls a pair of goggles off of the rack behind him, and hands them to Annabeth. 

“Anytime sweetheart-”

He keeps talking, Annabeth thinks, but the second the goggles touched her hand, she was out of there. Rushing off to her booked room, holding back the vomit that’s threatening to come out after that conversation, and the anger that’s been building up inside her since 9 o’clock this morning, 9 o’clock this morning when her boss decided to disappoint her for an astounding sixth time in a row. He must be going for a world fucking record. 

Annabeth locks herself in the room and makes quick work of pulling on all the necessary protective gear. Goggles, gloves, a hard hat, all that kind of stuff, before grabbing the sledgehammer and surveying what has been left for her. 

It’s all scraps, figures, but Annabeth doesn’t even care. She needs to smash something, anything. She needs an escape. A distraction from hearing _his_ voice giving yet another-

No. Annabeth pushes the day from her mind, gripping the sledgehammer tightly in her fist before walking over to the nearest printer, and smashing the shit out of it. 

The thing that really pisses Annabeth off, besides everything as of late, is that the guy in the front of the shop is probably right. She should find someone to talk to about all the stuff she’s feeling, but as Piper moved away three years ago, and Annabeth would rather just ignore that part of her brain that handles all the emotions, it’s never going to happen. Smashing shit is a much easier fix. 

It helps in all aspects really. As Annabeth gears up to shatter the priceless old vase sitting on the stand, she imagines it as her boss's head. And man is that cathartic. 

“This new building will be quite an undertaking, but it’s sure worth the reward.” Annabeth murmurs, mocking her boss, before laying into the next vase. 

“Getting a place in the New York skyline is something architects from all over the world dream of-”

And there goes the plates set. 

“And someone from our extremely talented and dedicated staff will have the pleasure of designing it.”

A computer monitor and three more bottles later, Annabeth catches her breath, the images of the meeting this morning flashing through her brain still. She spies the printer in the corner and feels her body temperature rising as she gears up for the big finale. 

_And I’m so happy to announce that the designer chosen, the best young architect at this firm, is Malcolm Pace._

“FUCK.”

That memory alone was enough for Annabeth to smash that printer into oblivion. 

*

By the time she’s on the subway headed home, Annabeth has calmed down. At least to the point where if any stray printers crossed her path, they wouldn’t meet an untimely demise. She never used to get angry like this. Sure, she’s always been a little bit rough around the edges, but this kind of blood boiling, hulk like behavior is new. She just can’t help herself getting mad when it seems like her entire architecture firm is a practical joke on her, and everyone on the staff is in on it.

When Annabeth was interviewing for her current job, she was basically begged to work there. She was recruited before she graduated, deemed one of the most promising architects they had seen in years. Annabeth, all fresh faced and eager to design was reeled in by empty promises of her designs decorating New York City and yet, it’s six years later. Annabeth is 27, and hasn’t designed a fucking building anywhere near the skyline. 

The subway gets more and more crowded, and Annabeth’s introversion and general dislike of people gets the best of her. She gets off at the next stop and hikes the last ten blocks to her apartment. The heels come off the second she stops in as they’d managed to cause welts on the back of her ankles as a result of the long walk. Annabeth doesn’t particularly like wearing heels, but she likes towering over her male coworkers, so she wears them. Making the men in her office feel uncomfortable is one of the small pleasures she gets nowadays. 

She unlocks the door and pushes into her apartment, careful to trap her old mage of a cat, Eero with her leg so the bastard doesn’t get out. He looks up at her as if she just foiled the escape plan he’s been planning for twenty years. 

“Yeah, okay. We’re both upset, and we can both get over it.” she says, sliding Eero further away from the door, in order to close it. She drops her heels and heads over to the kitchen. Eero is less than a step behind her as she gets food for him and dumps it out into his bowl, sating the beast for at least a little while. Annabeth pulls her phone out of her pocket at the sound of a text chime. She hoped it would be Piper, who has been dodging her calls for the past two days, but the second her eyes fall on the company group text, her jaw clenches. She reads through each message congratulating her coworker on being “the best,” and “the most deserving of reaching the skyline,” and it tips her back to her bitter unhappiness. She tosses her phone aside and steals away into her workroom and brings back a habit that’s objectively bad, but she can’t seem to stop doing. 

*

Two hours later, Annabeth stands up from her desk and looks down at paper with pride. It’s perfect. Thirty stories high, made from all recycled materials, a domed top to make it stand out on the skyline. Annabeth can’t help but smile at her handiwork, as she picks up the paper and pins it above her desk, a reminder to herself that she is indeed the best. 

Eero hops up onto her desk and glances at the paper as well. 

“It’s good, right? Meow if it’s good.”

Eero gives her a blank look and Annabeth wrinkles her nose. 

“Stay quiet if my skyline building is better than whatever shitty building Malcolm Pace is going to make.”

Eero stays silent, and Annabeth’s face lights up with her first genuine smile all day. 

Annabeth would have stood there admiring her newest building she could put in the skyline all day, but she’s pulled out of it by the grumbling on her stomach. She glances at the clock with a wince. She didn’t think it was already nine. 

“I should probably get food, right?” Annabeth asks aloud. “Yeah yeah. Body needs food to work.”

Annabeth scoops Eero up in her arms like a baby and heads into her living room. She makes a pit stop to turn on the true crime documentary she’s been watching and then continues on her quest to get food. 

She completely ignores her kitchen appliances that are collecting dust and instead reaches for the takeout menu for the Vietnamese restaurant she lives above. 

The call takes a second, and the order should be up in about ten minutes so Annabeth reclines into her couch, Eero still curled up in her arms. 

Less than five minutes later, a knock comes at her door. 

“That was quick.” Annabeth murmurs to herself. She hoists herself up and pads over to the door, as the knocking becomes increasingly more desperate. 

The knocking turns to smacking, and Annabeth is really annoyed at whatever delivery person they’ve sent. They’re bad at their job. 

“Hold on, jeez.” Annabeth says, raising her voice over the knocking. “I’m coming.”

Annabeth pulls open her door, ready to chew out whatever asshole was trying to break down her door, but then she sees who it is. 

She see who it is and she all but chucks her cat onto the couch and throws her arms around Piper, hugging her so tight that she might crush the smaller woman. 

Tension that’s been in Annabeth’s shoulders since Piper moved suddenly fades as Piper wraps her arms around Annabeth just as tightly. Annabeth barely even registers that Jason is standing there too because she’s just so overwhelmed with her best friend who is supposed to be all the way across the country, standing at her doorstep. 

“Wait-” Annabeth says, pulling back and looking Piper over. “Why are you here? What’s happening? Is something wrong? Is your dad okay?”

Piper tilts her head back and laughs, squeezing Annabeth’s forearms gently. “Everything is fine. Great- actually.”

Annabeth is glad to hear Piper is doing good, but she is not distracted from the fact that Piper shouldn’t be able to be here in New York on a Friday night. 

“Glad you’re good, but answer my question.”

Piper bites down on her lip and glances back at her boyfriend, before shoving her left hand in Annabeth’s face. 

“We’re engaged! And we’re moving back to New York!”

*

Annabeth can’t say she’s shocked by the announcement of an engagement.. Piper and Jason have been together since high school. Every year since they graduated has brought on a new bet between Annabeth and Jason’s best friend Leo on who is going to propose and when. What really catches Annabeth off guard is why they decided to move back home. They have a whole new life in California. Piper’s practice is there, Jason’s masters program is there. Frankly, the only thing California is missing for those two is Annabeth, but she knows they didn’t just move back here for her. 

Annabeth wants to press for their reason, but she knows she has to give them time to share about the engagement piece. That’s why ten minutes later, they’re all curled up on the couch sharing Annabeth’s Vietnamese food that arrived shortly after. 

“So after the whole mushy speech I got down on one knee and pulled out the ring.” Piper says, mouth full of rice noodles. “At this point, Jason had been crying for like, I’d say a good twenty minutes.”

She looks to Jason who despite the roll of his eyes, is still looking at Piper with sickening adoration. “Definitely not. Fifteen max.”

Piper chuckles and tosses her arm around him. “Anyways I was completely fine, but then just as I was about to ask, he cut me off. This goon got down on the ground too and pulled out his own little box. That got me. We proposed at the same time, and now here we are.”

Annabeth allows her bitter heart to melt a little bit and admire the rings adorning her friends fingers. 

“You guys are literally a romantic comedy, I hate you.”

Piper laughs and tosses her free arm around Annabeth, pulling both her and Jason closer to Piper’s chest. “I hate us too.”

As Piper and Jason share a loving gaze, Annabeth uses this as her opportunity to pounce on the question that’s been on her mind.

“So, why did you guys decide to move back to New York?”

Piper looks to Jason, as he tends to handle the more logistical stuff in the relationship. 

“My masters program offered a transfer here. And Pipes has been wanting to move the practice so it seemed right. We love L.A, but we’ve been homesick ever since we left. My family is here, our best friends are here-”

“Speaking of best friends.” Piper says, cutting Jason off as sweetly as possible. Piper turns her gaze to Annabeth. “I made us come straight here from the airport because I have a question to ask you.”

Annabeth raises an eyebrow and Piper worms her way out of the cuddle pile to get down on one knee in front of her friend. 

“Annabeth, will you be my maid of honor?”

Annabeth’s frame softens completely. “Of course.”  
Piper squeals, clapping her hands together. “Fuck yes. Our wedding party is so good.”

“Who’s the best man?” Annabeth asks Jason. “Leo, I presume?”

Jason rolls his eyes. “You would presume that as he is my best friend, but no. Piper fought me over whose side he got to be on for hours. And when I finally won for having less friends and him being my favorite guy ever, I asked him and he said he couldn’t handle the pressure.”

“So instead he’s planning the bachelor/bachelorette parties and marrying us.”

Annabeth laughs. “Of course he is. That’ll be a trip.”

Jason chuckles. “I know. We’ve fully come to terms with the fact that this wedding might be a disaster.”

“Well if it’s not Leo, then who is it?”

“One of my closest friends from high school. You’ll remember him.”

“Yeah, Annabeth.” Piper says, “You remember Percy, right? Percy Jackson?”


	2. How have you been Chase? For the last uh, ten years?

Truth be told, Annabeth didn’t.    
Okay okay that’s a lie, but what Annabeth genuinely remembers about Percy Jackson isn’t much. They never had any classes together, no similar interests. In Annabeth’s mind he mostly existed as an accessory to Jason, who at that point was fully an accessory to Piper. So suffice to say, Annabeth didn’t pay him much mind. The only things she really remembers about him were that he was short, and he was always nice to her. Which is a feat as Annabeth isn’t always the easiest person to be nice to. All in all, Annabeth doesn’t think she’ll mind interacting with Percy Jackson over the next few months. Leo, although a 10/10 person, can get on her nerves, so Percy will be a good neutral. 

“Uh, yeah. Vaguely.”

“You’ll like him.” Piper assures. “He’s like Thalia, but less punk. And he's a dude.”

Annabeth does love Jason’s sister, so that makes her hopeful. 

“When will all this wedding stuff start?”

Piper shrugs. “Haven’t got that far yet. We’re focusing on the move first and then the wedding. As of right now we’re couch surfing at Thalia’s. Well we will be. Haven’t made it there yet.”

“For how long?”

“Just till Sunday.” Jason assures. “That’s when the moving van arrives.”

“What time?” Annabeth asks, pulling out her phone and pulling up google calendar. “I have a work thing in the morning, but I can help move things in after one.”

“It gets here at noon so perfect timing.” Jason says with a smile. “Thanks Annabeth.”

“No problem at all.” Annabeth smiles. And with her whole heart she continues with: “I honestly couldn’t have asked for two better people to land on my doorstep.”

She pauses for a second before, “Well actually, if Eero Saarinen and Gregory Peck showed up at my door, that would feed into a very specific fantasy of mine that-”

“No. Stop. Bad.”   
“I’m actually interested to see where this is going.” Jason says, making Annabeth laugh.

“Jason, I wouldn’t dare taint an innocent mind like yours with a dip into my psyche.”

“I’m just intrigued by the mechanics of it all. The language barrier, how two cultural figures would handle having to share your attention, would Eero be young? Cause he was pretty attractive when he was young-”

“I can’t be in the same room with you two, my god. I’m way too cool to be part of this conversation.”

Jason grins, his eyes crinkling. He leans over and pecks Piper on the temple. She softens, and Annabeth does a little too. Piper is the best. And Jason, well Jason continues to grow on her too. 

“Well.” Annabeth says, willing herself up off the couch. “I shouldn’t hold you two any longer. It’s late and you’ve had a long day.”   
“It’s fine!” Jason says, and Piper chuckles.    
“She’s kicking us out, J.” Piper says, standing up as well. She presses a kiss to Annabeth’s cheek, tugging her in for a hug. “Thanks for letting us impose.”

Annabeth nods, nuzzling her head a little more into Piper’s shoulder. She holds tight to her for a second, feeling like she might just move away again if she doesn’t. Eventually though, Annabeth pulls herself away. 

Jason replaces her quickly. He gives Annabeth a somewhat awkward smile before going in for an even more awkward hug. Annabeth appreciates it though. Her and Jason have never been close, but he’s a really good guy. 

“Good to see you.” she says, curtly, giving Jason a last squeeze. “Tell Thalia I say hi.”

He smiles. “I will.”

Annabeth walks them out. The second they’re out of sight, she sets a mental timer for Sunday, the next time she gets to see them again. 

_ * _

Annabeth’s willpower shocks even her sometimes. As expected, she had been chosen to be a consulting member on Malcolm’s project, so she has the privilege of sitting at Sunday brunch discussing the building that should have been hers. 

So for obvious reasons, it’s taking a lot of willpower to not crush her mimosa glass to a pulp. She instead directs that power into a more boring but acceptable endeavor: scarfing down her $18 dollar salad. Which for the record, should’ve been like five dollars at most. Over the course of eating it, Annabeth keeps replaying this thing Piper always says.

_ “Sometimes things that are expensive…… are worse.” _

Annabeth is pretty sure she picked that up from a movie, but she’s not sure which one. 

Suffice to say when she is released from her prison of commendable bruch behavior, she can’t get to Piper and Jason’s quick enough. 

It’s a  _ really  _ nice apartment. With the money Piper and Jason make she could’ve guessed it would be nice, but still. Not only is it nice, it’s huge. Big windows, tall as an appalachian mountain, looks like it could swallow the rest of the block. Annabeth knows they live on some crazy floor like the 17th, so she’s happy to see movers still outside to help point her in the right direction. 

Annabeth curses the clunking and tapping of her work heels as she walks towards the movers. She taps one on the shoulder and after the briefest explanation possible, she learns the movers are very trusting. Probably too trusting actually, as he tells her the apartment number, and drops two heavy boxes into her arms. 

“Watch your step.”

What helpful advice, Annabeth thinks, as she can’t see anything except the box in front of her face. She grunts and hefts the box higher into her arms, but it does little to ease the weight. Despite her smashing printers three times a month and her prowess in lacrosse in college, the boxes are still doing a number on her. 

“What the fuck is in here?” she grumbles, as a dull ache starts to form in her forearms. “Probably Jason’s shit. Microscopes. Radiology machines. Books.”

She’s halfway up the stairs when the boxes are an inch away from slipping out of her grasp, and she’s stopped in her tracks by…. A pair of blue pumas. 

Okay, there’s definitely a person attached to them but boxes in front of eyes makes her unable to see. 

“Hey, you look like you could use some help.”

“No thank you.”

“No, seriously. Those look heavy! Let me grab one.”

Annabeth grimaces. Nothing gets her heated quite like some random guy feeling all high and mighty when he offers a woman help carrying something. 

“I said I was fine.”

Despite her protests, large hands come around the sides of her top box, and Annabeth decides to unlock the rage she’d been holding in all morning.

“Listen asshole.” she says, voice full of venom. “First off, I said  _ NO,  _ and secondly I know you don’t think so, but I don’t need a random guy to fucking-”

“What? Annabeth, it’s me!”

And lo and behold, when the box is lifted out of her arms, she is face to face with Percy Jackson. The realization takes the wind out of her sails.

“Oh. Sorry. I thought you were-”

“An asshole?” Percy asks, offering a chuckle. “A box napper? Don’t worry about it. I’m just glad you didn’t deck me. I’m assuming that’s what would’ve come next?”   
He raises his eyebrows at her and Annabeth scoffs.

“Hey, just consider yourself lucky we didn’t get to that point.”

“I do.” 

Annabeth brushes past Percy and continues up the stairs. He follows her lead, toting the box with ease.

It’s silent until they reach the elevator. Annabeth presses the button and stares straight ahead.

“So,” Percy says, rocking back on his heels. “Long time no see, huh? How have you been Chase? For the last uh, ten years?”

Annbeth gives a shrug, pretty unenthused by the concept of talking about the state of her life. “Uh- good,” she says, barely convincing herself. She clears her throat and tries again. “I’ve been good. I work in architecture downtown.”

The elevator door opens and she steps inside. 

“That’s cool.” Percy says, stepping in behind her. “I could’ve guessed you did something smart like that.”

She gives a curt nod and resumes her staring at the door as it closes. 

Silence follows. She glances at Percy Jackson who seems completely undeterred by the awkward silence. He makes eye contact and gives a half smile. 

“I’ve been good too, by the way.”

Annabeth winces. “Right sorry. What have you been up to? Do you still um,”

Annabeth wracks her brain for any trivial information she learned about him through Jason, “swim?”

Percy raised an eyebrow. 

“Surprised you remembered that.” he comments. 

Annabeth is pretty surprised she remembered it too. 

“But no-” he continues, “I gave that up back in college. I was good at it, but in the end I didn’t enjoy it that much anymore. Gave it up.”   
The elevator door opens to a red faced Piper and Jason who perk up at the site of their friends. The group brings the boxes to apartment 1752 and quickly piles back in the elevator to grab more. 

“I’m so glad you two ran into each other.” Piper says, wiping the sweat off her brow. “Saves me and Jason the uncomfy reintroduction-memory-refresher shit.”

“I didn’t need any refreshing at all.” Percy says confidently. “Steel trap right here.”

“It is absolutely not.”

“Hey, I don’t appreciate the attitude.”

“Guys this is so great.” Jason says, grinning. “We’re all together! It’s just like we’re back in high school. Man, what good times.”

Annabeth and Percy let out a stifled laugh at the same time. Annabeth’s head whips over to him, sort of unintentionally, and he mimics her, in fairness, comically stupid head whip. Okay, Annabeth might’ve misread the Percy scenario. He actually might be annoying. Annabeth wished she would’ve remembered Percy being annoying. 

“Excuse him.” Piper says, setting a hand on confused Jason’s chest. “He’s the token white straight golden boy who had a great time in high school.”

Jason makes a face. “Okay I apologize. Our experiences were not universal and I understand this. I just mean it’s good to have all of my old friends back together.”

“We should all get something to eat after this.” Percy suggests. “I know a great place close to here.”

“I’m free.” Annabeth says, as if she isn’t always. 

“Ask me after ten more boxes.” Piper says, fanning at her still red face. “I might be dead by then and I wouldn’t want to make plans I can’t keep.”

*

Three hours later, Piper’s comment may have held some weight. Annabeth’s arms feel like completely useless appendages. By the end, Jason was carrying the team on his back, as he was the only one who wasn’t complaining. Annabeth did stick it out till the end, but that was more of a pride thing than an actual positive determination. But once everything is in the apartment, despite tired overtaking them, the group heads out to the place Percy suggested. They pile into a booth and Annabeth has this weird moment of deja vu. For just a second as she slides into the booth beside Piper, she sees the flash of a scene. 11 years prior, Jason and Piper are newly dating, completely unaged by time. Percy is there too, sliding into the booth beside 17 year old Annabeth who looks almost the same but with some added stress acne and regrettable bang choices. Annabeth can see so clearly, the four of them sliding into a booth just like this at the now defunct Peppermint Park ice cream shop. It’s such an irrelevant memory, Annabeth is a little confused as to why it popped up in her brain, but she doesn’t dwell. She sits back against the booth and pulls out her phone. There’s about fifteen notifications, and all of them suck. 

**Malcolm**

Annabeth 

**Malcolm**

Annabeth Chase ANSWER my CALLS

**Malcolm**

Are you dead? I need your notes from the meeting this morning, where you wrote down ideas. 

Notes? Annabeth vaguely remembers Malcolm forcing everyone to write stuff down on napkins during brunch, but she even more remembers not doing it, and him not collecting it. What was the point? Annabeth wasn’t the most keen person to share ideas with Malcolm who, by circumstance, is her mortal enemy at the moment. But with all the heated calls and texts, Annabeth produces a shred of compassion from all the annoyance and decides to call him back. 

“Hey Annabeth, tell me more-”

“I actually need to take a call.” Annabeth says bluntly to Percy who had tried to start a conversation with her yet again. “I’ll be right back.”

She gets up and steps outside, dialing Malcolm’s number. 

“What notes?” she asks, the second Malcolm picks up. 

“Oh so now you answer?”   
Annabeth bites her tongue at his tone. “It’s Sunday.” she says, using this overly polite voice that annoys the shit out of her. “Now what notes?”

“From brunch. We wrote down ideas for the building. I didn’t get any from you.”

“I don’t remember you taking them from anyone else.”

Annabeth hears him sigh. “Annabeth why are you making this so difficult? Do you want to be on this project?”   
No. is what Annabeth thinks. 

“Yes.’ is what she says. 

“Good. Then I expect notes by Monday.”

“Fine.”

Annabeth makes a mental note to book another break room appointment, and heads back into the restaurant with a glass of wine high on her list of priorities. 

“Sorry.” Annabeth says, mostly to Piper. “Work thing.”   
“Don’t worry about it.” Piper says. “We know we’re in the presence of a big shot architect.”

“I know, right? How sick. I feel like I should bow and exalt.” Percy chimes in.

Annabeth wrinkles her nose.

“All hail Annabeth!” Jason says, pitching in with the rest of the table to make Annabeth feel very uncomfortable. She loves praise, but this feels.. Undeserved. 

“Says the psychologist, masters student, and the…”

She looks to Percy. 

“Tour guide.”

“ _ Oh _ .” 

Annabeth immediately regrets the condescending two letter word, but it came out before she could stop it. 

“I’m sorry.” she says quickly. “That was so rude of me.”

“Little bit.” Percy says with a chuckle. “But you’re right, it’s not very impressive. That doesn’t really matter to me though. I like my job.”

Annabeth gives him a tight lipped smile, cursing herself once again. From first reintroduction to now, Annabeth has made an idiot of herself more than once in front of Percy Jackson. She has also determined she doesn’t understand him at all, he might be annoying, and that she has absolutely no idea how these next six months are going to go. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! An Update! I'm making it a goal for myself to update on Wednesdays, but we'll see how well I keep that promise haha.   
> Hooray for this chapter also! I don't know about you guys but I absolutely LOVE reading something and seeing characters meet, knowing that they'll mean so much to each other by the end! I feel the same writing this, and I can't wait to really actually get into this story beyond all the exposition. 
> 
> Thanks for all the kudos and I hope you all enjoy reading! New update soon.


	3. I need you to tell me what I want

If Annabeth wasn’t already in a committed relationship with her google calendar, she is now. Piper has planned out the next six months to a tee, and it seems that in roughly two weeks Annabeth will have to check her calendar to make sure she has time for the bathroom. 

It doesn’t bother Annabeth though. She wants all the time with Piper she cant get, and pressure does wonders for her work ethic, so she’s unbothered by the influx of wedding events. Things would probably be more difficult if Annabeth had any social life, but thankfully that ship sailed long ago. 

That Monday, Annabeth turns in some bullshit notes to Malcolm to appease him. She’s a bit pissed at herself for even giving it up and turning them in; especially to Malcolm who has thus far proved to be a shitty person to work with in a way that she hadn’t expected. But, her common sense is louder than her anger, so she buckles down, does her job, and promises herself at least two snide remarks if Malcolm gets on her nerves. 

It’s really not that bad, she decides. It’s just a lot of Annabeth shoving things down and moving on with her life. That’s her game plan in going into the next meeting at least. 

“So,” Malcolm says, closing his laptop and looking up at the consulting members, “in terms of material sourcing. I’m looking for pliable, affordable, and weather resistant.”

“And ethically sourced?” Annabeth adds, almost not realizing she said it out loud. She glances up to see Malcolm giving her a tight lipped smile. 

“I think that’s a given, Annabeth. Thanks for the input though.”

‘Thanks for the input’ my ass, Annabeth thinks. 

Malcolm clears his throat. “Anyways, in terms of materials, I was really thinking about aluminum alloys. It’s localized about half an hour away, and has been used by many big industries in the past.

Annabeth furrows her brows, and is about to say something in response, but someone speaks first. 

“Actually if we’re on the subject of ethical sourcing...” 

Annabeth and the rest of the group turn their head to see that the intern, Frank, is the one speaking. That’s a pretty rare occurrence. None of the young interns ever really perk up and join in the conversation, but Frank seems like he’s changing that.

“The company most known for sourcing aluminum in the area isn’t great. There have been tons of environmental impacts as a result of their mining, and even allegations of hiring undocumented citizens to pay them less for work.”

Annabeth raises her eyebrows, uncharacteristically impressed by someone she works with. 

“Oh. Right then. Well good we know that know, we wouldn’t want a company full of undocumented workers anyways.”

Frank makes a face. “That wasn’t really my point, but-”

“No matter. I was also thinking of a combination of wood and metal.”

Annabeth perks up a little at that. It’s the first good idea she’s heard from Malcolm since this project began.

“Actually yes! I used that on the Mckellen project last year. A combination of Steel alloys and hardwood, like Maple would be great.”

Malcolm sniffs and writes Annabeth’s words down. He seems like he really doesn’t want to accept the fact Annabeth has great ideas. What’s his problem anyways?

“I’ll keep that in mind, thanks.” he says, “But again this is a  _ new  _ project. I’m really looking for new ideas over recycled ones.”   
Annabeth grips at the arms of her chair and silently grants herself snide remark #1.

“So you don’t want a building made out of metal? Or wood?”

Frank makes a choking sound. It might’ve been a laugh, but he covered it up quickly with a cough. 

Annabeth bites the inside of her cheek. 

“I’d just rather hear new ideas, okay?” Malcolm asks, voice a little calmer. “Buildings on the skyline are important, are they not? Career defining I would say. Proof of success.”

Proof of success. Ouch. Annabeth’s got no proof of that to speak of, so she falls silent. 

Malcolm seems to brighten up considerably as he addresses the whole group once again. 

“Alright, for the next meeting here’s what I want. Frank, I want you to look into Steel as a backup. Bea please have a conversation with our contractors about spacing. I’m working on coordinating a mockup for the meeting with the client about what the building will look like.”

Malcolm waits a beat before turning to Annabeth. 

“And Annabeth, if you wouldn’t mind, I have an important job for you. I want you to look up some unique materials for buildings. Something fresh. Just a google search or two. Can you handle that?”

Annabeth gives him a smile, but it feels more like she’s baring her teeth at him. 

“Of course.”

*

Annabeth rushes out at the office at eleven to catch the subway for her lunch break. Her frantic ride over to her the coffee shop is full of curse words, half directed at the slow moving train, and half directed at her daily Malcolm experience. She just wishes she had someone to shit talk Malcolm with besides her cat. She knows she’s got Piper, but Piper is already headfirst into wedding planning and Annabeth doesn’t want to bother her. Annabeth does bother her though as she rolls into the wedding planner meeting about ten minutes late. 

“Sorry sorry sorry.” she says, rushing over to her group in the corner, “The subway was being slower than a fucking-”

Annabeth cuts herself off as she reaches the pretty, posh woman sitting across from her friends. The one with the unamused expression on her face. Evidently Annabeth needs to reduce the number of fucks in her vocabulary when in public places. 

“Sorry I’m late.” she says, a bit more composed. "Annabeth. Maid of honor.”

The woman nods, and Annabeth travels to take the open seat next to Percy. 

“Graceful entrance.” Percy whispers.

“Eat shit.” Annabeth responds without missing a beat. 

Percy grins. 

The wedding planner clears her throat and Annabeth puts all her attention on the woman. 

“Now that we’re all here we can begin. Thank you Percy and Annabeth for being here, but I want to emphasize that Jason and Piper this is your wedding. I am here for you to make this next six months as easy as possible, clearing the way for your magical day.”

“That means a lot, thank you.” Jason replies.

“So please, tell me your vision.”

Piper and Jason look at each other. Jason raises his eyebrows and Piper answers with the same expression. Jason turns back to the wedding planner with an awkward laugh. “Well, uh, you know, we’re pretty laid back. We just want something that expresses our love.”

“Hm. How would you personally describe your love?”

Jason flushes a little, glancing over at Piper. “Once in a lifetime? Kind of like a fairytale feeling?”

“He’s so genuine, I’m gonna throw up.” Percy whispers to Annabeth who snorts a little. 

The wedding planner looks pleased. “That to me screams a big wedding. Lights, flowers, colors, the works.”

Annabeth makes a face. “Well I know they’re super in love.” Annabeth throws out, “but it’s kind of between them. They’re not like flash mob proposals and skywriters. They just don’t scream big wedding to me.”

“Why not?” Percy asks, arm resting around the back of Annabeth’s chair. “They’ve got lots of friends and frankly, the money to go all out, so if that’s an option, they can consider it.

Annabeth is a little taken aback by the devil’s advocate being Percy, but it just adds to her worst fear that Percy might end up being unbearable. 

“Consider what? Piper and Jason could get married at the courthouse and still have the most love-filled romantic night of their lives. They’re just like that. They don’t need all the capitalistic displays of affection.”

“Well nobody  _ needs  _ anything. It’s not a desert island, it’s the happiest day of their lives, Annabeth.”

Annabeth is a bit in shock. Based on everything she knows about Percy, she was pretty confident she could stomp him to a pulp in an argument, but he’s holding his own. This is the first time she’s really seen his similarity to Jason’s sister Thalia since Piper mentioned it. 

She pulls away from his gaze for a second to see Piper and Jason looking at them uneasily, so she forfeits the match. 

“Of course this isn't my decision. It’s Piper and Jason’s day so I’m shutting up now.”

Annabeth leans back into her seat and Piper gives her a sympathetic smile before addressing the wedding planner. 

“So okay, we know we want an outdoor wedding. And we’re thinking not tiny but not huge. Around fifty people?” Piper explains. “Other than that we don’t really know too much. I think we thought that this meeting would help us kind of figure out more specifics.”

The woman smiles at Piper. Annabeth is confident that she and Percy will never receive that smile. “That’s a good start. I think that for me to best help you, you should figure out a couple more things before we start really digging into the planning.”

She reaches into her stacked binder and hands a piece of paper to Piper and an identical one to Jason. 

“This sheet has some common things to decide before meeting and I think it would be helpful for you two to fill them out before we talk for real. I can meet tomorrow at the same time if that works?”   
“That sounds perfect. Thank you.”

The wedding planner chats a bit more with the happy couple, but overall makes a hasty exit, 40 minutes earlier than the meeting was supposed to end. 

“I don’t think I should be at the meeting tomorrow, just gonna throw that out there.” Annabeth says, raising her hands in submission. 

“I second that.”

Annabeth turns to Percy and flicks him off. 

“Hey, I meant I shouldn’t be there, but yeah you probably shouldn’t come either.”

“But we want you guys to be there.” Piper frowns. 

“With all due respect, Annabeth and I aren’t the ones getting married.”

Piper crosses her arms. “Fine. But this is the only meeting you two are getting out of. Anything other than meetings with the wedding planner, I expect to see your cute asses there, okay?”

Annabeth smiles. “And you reserve the right to call me anytime you need me.”

Percy clears his throat. “Yeah Jason, same. I just might not answer if I’m at work or asleep, but I’ll for sure get back to you asap.”

Jason grins. “What would I do without you, Percy?”   
Piper outlaws wedding talk for the remainder of their time together, and the four of them hang around and just talk. It’s refreshing. It’s the first time Annabeth’s mind really had a chance to slow down since Piper and Jason dropped on her doorstep. It kind of fills this hole she feels like she’s been walking around with. Whilst Piper was away, Annabeth had learned to live without friends, and only now does she realize what she’d been missing. That thought makes returning to her cold office setting all the more unappealing as she hops back on the subway at the end of lunch. 

*

The day doesn’t improve much from there, but the office is painless. Annabeth normally would’ve loved this whole afternoon to herself, unbothered, but this time it just made her feel a bit shit. Like she didn’t want to talk to Malcolm or anything, but conversation with someone not insufferable would’ve been nice. 

*

Annabeth is on the subway for the fifth time that day on her way home when her phone starts ringing. It feels incredibly loud, and when Annabeth answers, she’s 99% sure Piper’s energy was making her phone shake. 

“Are you home yet? You shouldn’t be home yet, are on the subway? If you are, you have to come over.”

“Why? What’s wrong?”

Piper lets out a dramatic sigh. “I need you to tell me what I want, because I personally have no idea.”

“Piper, how would I know what _you_ want for your wedding?”

“Because you  _ know  _ me better than anyone. And I want you to do is sit on my head like Ratatouille and control my wedding choices so I don’t have to make any decisions and I can reap the benefits.”

“Why on earth do you want me to sit on your head like a French stew?”

“Oh my god I left you alone for way too long. Fine, you’re coming over to make my wedding plans AND watch Ratatouille.”

So after Annabeth is promptly hung up on, she changes trains and heads to Piper’s. When she gets there, she’s met by Piper laying on her couch upside down, hanging her head over the side. 

“Do I like olive or burgandy better?” 

Annabeth kicks off her heels and tosses her purse on the ground. “Do you like either of those colors?”

Piper shrugs. “Who’s to say?”

“I think all the blood rushing to your head might be influencing you.”

“Good luck, Annabeth.” Jason calls from the kitchen. “She’s inconsolable.”

Annabeth rolls her eyes and forces Piper to sit up straight. 

“Why are you freaking out?”

“I’m not freaking out.” Piper says, letting herself sink back into the couch. “I just don’t have any opinion on the things me and Jason are supposed to have an opinion on.”

Annabeth laughs. “You’re just too laid back to plan your own wedding?”   
“Exactly. See Annabeth gets it! Percy was absolutely no help.”

“Sorry.” Percy’s voice calls from the kitchen. “I was too laid back too, I guess.”

“So you decided to call the least laidback person you know?” Annabeth asks. 

“No. I decided to call my best friend.”

Piper wraps her arms around Annabeth and leans her head onto her shoulder. 

“I missed you a lot.” Piper says quietly. Annabeth wraps her arm around Piper right back. 

“I missed you too.”

They’re quiet for a second before Annabeth lets out a sigh. 

“You said you wanted an outdoor wedding. Like out in the woods or somewhere in the city?”

“I think the city is nice.” Jason replies from the kitchen. “I love camping as much as the next guy, but I know how much scat you step in when you’re out there.”

Piper agrees, lifting up her head. “Yeah, I’d like it in a backyard or park or something.” 

Annabeth pulls out her phone and starts typing that out. 

“Night or day?”

“Day.” Piper and Jason answer unison. 

“Why did you think this would be so hard?” Annabeth asks, typing onto her phone. 

“I don’t know!” Piper says. “I forgot Jason and I share one brain cell.”

Annabeth nudges her best friend and racks her brain for a next question. 

“Well if it’s daytime then you either want, like, breakfast or lunch…”

*

“We can’t do blue cause blue looks terrible on me.” Piper laughs, taking a bite of the spaghetti Jason and Percy had prepared. 

“But blue looks fantastic on Jason!” Percy sends back, reaching up and grabbing Jason’s chin. “I mean look at those eyes!”

“Other colors can compliment Jason I promise.” Annabeth says, finding herself laughing a little too. “What about like, orange?”

“Orange?? Orange with Jason’s alabaster complexion?”

“Not orange orange! Like a dark orange!”

Piper laughs again. “Whatever whatever.” she says. “We can decide this later. I think we have more than enough information for Drew tomorrow. Thank you guys.”

“It’s nothing.” Annabeth says. In fact, Annabeth had a great time. 

“Anyways we have to watch Ratatouille before it gets too late, so let’s go.”

*

So, Ratatouille was a good movie. Annabeth wasn’t sure it was on the level Piper made it out to be, and the thought of having a rat in her hair grossed her out, but she still enjoyed it. The night was full of fun and relaxation, and even a bit of problem solving on Annabeth’s part. The night made her feel better than she had in a long time. 

After it’s over, Percy and Annabeth say their goodbyes and head out together towards the nearest Subway station. 

“You’re good at that.” Percy comments as they head down the surprisingly quiet city street. “All that wedding stuff, I think you really helped them.”

Annabeth wrinkles her nose. “I just get Piper and Jason, the wedding stuff just kind of came with that.” she tells him, sparing a quick glance over at Percy. “And if I’m so good at the wedding stuff, why did you argue with me at the meeting today?”

Percy shrugs. “I didn’t argue with you because I disagreed.” he tells her. “I don’t like all that big wedding stuff either, but it’s not my wedding,”

Annabeth is quiet. 

“My job isn’t to be the super perfect best man or anything. What I want to do is just make sure that Piper and Jason’s wedding is  _ exactly  _ what they want. Not what I want or you want, you know?”

Maybe Percy isn’t unbearable, Annabeth thinks. Maybe he’s putting a lot more thought into his role than she originally thought. 

“Yeah, I know.”

Percy smiles at her. “I know you know.” 

They reach a crosswalk, and Percy realizes before Annabeth that this is where they part ways. 

He leans over and wraps one arm around her, giving her quick squeeze. “Take care, my friend.” he says, pulling back and giving her a salute. “See you soon, yeah?”

Annabeth waves as her friend, a title decided by Percy himself, disappears into the night.

*

The next day at work, Annabeth heads into the staff kitchen to get more coffee, and she feels this tug at her chest as she sees Intern Frank leaning against the counter. She brushes her hair back and fills up her coffee before taking a seat at a table near Frank. She psychs herself out for a second before saying, “Hey. I liked how you called Malcolm out on the ethical sourcing yesterday.”

Frank glances up, seemingly surprised someone is talking to him. 

“It just- I don’t know, it made me smile.”

Frank gives a smile too. “Of course. I wasn’t just going to let him do that to the project.” he explains, taking a sip from his own mug. “I like Malcolm and all, but I think the skyline status has gone to his head.”

Annabeth snorts. “You’re telling me.”

Frank hesitates for a second before standing up from the counter and taking the seat across from Annabeth. 

“I also don’t care for when he’s rude to you.” Frank says, voice significantly quieter. “I’m glad you give him shit for it.”

Frank quickly backtracks. “Sorry, I probably shouldn’t swear when talking to a superior. I mean give him crap.”

Annabeth's head hums with excitement. Her brain is yelling “A friend! A friend!”

“So the rudeness isn’t all in my head?”

Frank shakes his head. “Definitely not. He picks on you. I think it’s because he’s threatened by you.”

Annabeth cocks her head. “Am I threatening, Frank?”

Frank flushes red. “No, no, I was just saying that you’re- uh-”

“Good.” Annabeth says, cutting the poor boy off. “Glad I still have some prowess around here. Also, I like the swearing. It’s a nice fucking change of pace around here.”

Frank’s embarrassed face turns to a genuine smile. “I feel the same way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody!  
> Sorry this chapter is up later! I always try to promise consistency, but that never happens until we're a little deeper into a fic haha. Anyways here is the new chapter! I'm really enjoying writing this at the moment, so i hope reading it brings you the jot it's been bringing me!  
> Thank you for the kudos and comments, they make me so happy!  
> New update soon.


	4. It’s a nice feeling to say the least

“Good morning!”

Annabeth looks up from her laptop to see a coffee in front of her face. She follows the cup, up the appendage, until she sees Frank at the other end. 

“For me?” she asks, a little surprised. 

“Well yeah” Frank says, face flushing a little. “I mean I always do coffee runs on the company card so I thought I would add you to the list. I assumed black coffee, was that accurate?”

Annabeth feels a little smile tug at her mouth as she takes the coffee. “Very accurate. I didn’t realize I’d become so predictable.”

Frank shrugs and gives another smile. 

“Thanks for this.” Annabeth tells him, taking a sip. “I’m gonna need it for my presentation. A caffeine barrier will help me make it through when Malcolm rips me a new asshole.”

“You think he will?”

Annabeth shrugs. “I think I did my job incredibly well, and actually found new and interesting stuff to give him, so yeah, that usually means he’s going to tear me apart.”

Frank frowns. “Don’t think like that. If you did great and he’s being a jerk, me and the others will be there to call him out, okay?”

Annabeth almost wants to laugh at the thought of mild mannered Frank “calling out” Malcolm, but she doesn’t. Instead, her chest blooms with an odd warmth at his words of reassurance. 

“Okay.” she nods. 

“Good. I’ll see you in there. Enjoy the coffee.”

Annabeth does enjoy the coffee. And to some extent she enjoys putting the finishing touches on her presentation for Malcolm. Annabeth has learned she only has two modes, shutdown or go way overboard, and this task was an overboard one. It was nice to see the real benefits of enjoying her job. She can’t remember the last time she really liked being here until now. Or the last time someone brought her coffee. 

It’s a nice feeling to say the least. 

*

Annabeth enters into her meeting with the confidence she always does, and relishes in the fact that Malcolm asks for her presentation first. She pushes down her cynicism for the look in his eyes that seems to want her to fail, and she steps up to the front. She pulls up her presentation, and opens up her mouth. 

Ten minutes later, she reaches her final slide. 

“And that is why wool brick and biochar are both materials that would make the building weather resistant, as well as reduce the amount of waste used in creating your building, Malcolm.” Annabeth says, motioning to the presentation behind her. “I even think that these should be put on retainers for the company as these materials would be applicable and accessible for a lot of architects here.”

Annabeth looks confidently out at the rest of the consultants before drawing her attention to Malcolm. She watches him expectantly, her body tensing as if preparing to fight back at whatever attempts he makes to tear her down. 

But then this weird thing happens.

He doesn’t.

“I’m impressed, Annabeth.” he says, simply. The twinge of surprise in his voice pisses Annabeth off, but not enough to warrant anything major. “I’ll be looking into this, thanks for your work.”

Annabeth nods, glancing over to Frank who gives her a grin.

. “Thank you.”

*

After a pretty okay day at work that day, two more pretty okay days follow. Annabeth is shocked to say the least. It’s not really that things have got significantly better, Annabeht just feels differently. Maybe it’s the thought that even though she’s still getting dismissed by Malcolm, and passed over for jobs, at least she has Frank to bring her coffee and be nice to her. Annabeth isn’t sure. She thinks it’s just nice sometimes to not be angry and all on her own. Whatever the reason for the pretty okayness, it gives Annabeth enough positive energy to request something from Piper she hasn’t felt up for in a long time. 

“I checked the wedding calendar and I know you’re not doing anything so we’re going out.”

“Okay who is this?” Piper asks. “Because it’s Annabeth’s number but it feels like she’s been bodysnatched.”

“Fuck off.”

“Ah there’s my girl.” Piper laughs. “Good day?”

“Pretty good day, thanks for asking.” Annabeth replies. “I got a sliver of respect at work and I get free coffee now. I think this may be the best few days I’ve had in years.”

“That’s your metric of a very good day? Okay we do need to go out.” Piper says. “And no wedding talk. Just you and me getting wine drunk at a restaurant and then watching a true crime documentary.”  
Annabeth sighs. “That’s perfect.”

“One more request from me: Will you wear your little black dress? You know what I’m talking about. The one on your tinder.”

Annabeth rolls her eyes, but she knows damn well she looks fantastic in that dress. “Deal. 8?”  
“Hell yes. Text me the place.”

*

“Oh my god who IS she??? Ma’am who are you wearing??”  
Annabeth tosses her hair over her shoulder and leans in to the imaginary microphone Piper is holding in front of her. 

“Target.”  
“Amazing.” Piper says, “A real woman of the people.”

Annabeth isn’t usually the one to play along with Piper’s bits, but she’s feeling good so she takes the imaginary microphone into her own grasp.

“And you?” she asks, motioning to Piper’s dress.

Piper purses her lips and leans in close. 

“I borrowed it from my roommate in college and never gave it back.”

Annabeth chuckles and pulls the smaller woman into her, burying her face into Piper’s dark hair. 

“I can’t stress enough.” Annabeth murmurs. “How excited I am to get wine drunk.”

Piper cheers and pulls her best friend into the restaurant. They’re situated at a booth with large glasses of wine when Piper drops her menu to eye Annabeth. 

“I want updates.” she states. “I’ve been home for three weeks and have only talked about myself so I demand Annabeth content.”

Annabeth rolls her eyes. “There’s not much to tell.”

“Tell me about work.”

“Work is… fine.” Annabeth takes a sip of her wine. “I’m still not getting to do the things I want, but I’m less upset about it. I’m not settling, I promise, just kind of accepting.”

Piper frowns. “Want me to knock out your boss? I kept up our boxing pact in California, I can rattle him.”

“Tempting, but I’m fine.” Annabeth tells her. “It’s not all bad. I made a friend recently. An intern who swears and brings me coffee.”

Piper raises an eyebrow. “And what is this intern’s name?”

“Frank.”

“And is Frank the intern who brings you coffee…. Attractive?”

Annabeth makes a face. “God Piper, no. He’s like 22.”

Piper raises her hands in submission. “Okay okay okay!” she says. “Message received I’ll hold off on the dating life stuff until you’re a bit more buzzed.”

Annabeth gives her the finger. 

“But to be clear.. You’re not dating anyone, right?”

Annabeth wrinkles her nose. She’s angry with herself for the embarrassed blush creeping up on her face. “Nope. I haven’t dated anyone since Luke.”

“Since Luke?” Piper squawks. “No one since Luke? What about tinder?”  
“I do not use tinder for dates.” Annabeth may be angry and lonely, but she doesn’t hate herself. She does fair enough on the front of meeting her personal needs. Not lately, but overall.”

Piper doesn’t press further, but merely eyes Annabeth again. 

“Can I swipe your tinder tonight?”

“Ask me when I’m drunk.”

*

After an incredibly lovely dinner, Annabeth and Piper get an uber to take them back to Annabeth’s apartment, as they are indeed drunk. When they stumble into the apartment, kicking off their heels, Eero looks about as happy as a dad waiting for his irresponsible teenager to get home in the middle of the night. Annabeth pulls the cat up into her arms and curls up on the couch, turning onto the True Crime documentary she promised Piper. 

“I just don’t understand.” Piper says, once they’re a little ways into the documentary, “I mean how hard is it to _not_ glamorize an unwell man who mass murdered a bunch of women?”

“Incredibly hard apparently.” Annabeth responds, her head feeling incredibly heavy as she lets it loll onto Piper’s shoulder. “Men should be banned from making films about serial killers.”

Piper laughs, reaching up and rubbing her hand on Annabeth’s face as some sort of gesture of affection. “You’re so right.”

“I’m sick of this.” Annabeth decides. “And so is Eero. Can we do something else?”  
Piper whips her head up and makes grabby hands at Annabeth. 

“Give me your phone! Give me your phone!”  
If Annabeth was any less intoxicated, she wouldn’t have given it up, but she is, so she does. 

*

“Him?”

“No.”

“Him?”  
“Ew.”

“What about him?”

“Piper this is useless.”

“Stop trying to stop me while I’m on here finding your soulmate.” Piper says, ignoring Annabeth’s negative comments. “And I truly believe your soulmate is one of these guys holding a footlong hotdog.”

Annabeth reaches for the phone, but Piper just stretches away from her, laughing her head off. Piper continues swiping, far out of reach of Annabeth, until something makes her laughing cut off completely. 

“Oh my god.” Piper says, “Oh my god oh my god.”  
“What? What is it?”

Piper covers her mouth with her hand before turning the phone screen to Annabeth, showcasing Percy Jackson’s tinder profile. 

“Oh my god.”  
“I KNOW.”

The girls instantly curl up beside one another, peering at the tiny screen. 

Annabeth rolls her eyes at the blatant girl-suck up pics of Percy kissing his mom on the cheek, and Percy playing with dogs, and all the other stuff, as Piper scrolls through his photos. She also makes a face at the Hawaiian shirts he has in two of the pictures, which is two more times than Annabeth expected to see Percy dressed like that. 

Piper swipes to the last picture, and both of the girls zero in on the gym selfie. 

Now listen. Annabeth’s tongue hanging out of her mouth at the site of his body has absolutely NOTHING to do with the fact that it was a photo of Percy Jackson giving a stupid peace sign in the mirror. It instead had everything to do with the fact that he was shirtless and sweaty and Annabeth has been living alone with a grouchy cat for a long time. 

“Wow.” Piper finally says. “That definitely shouldn’t be the last picture.”

“You’re telling me.”

Piper scrolls down to the bio and Annabeth is knocked out of her trance. 

“6’1?? Percy Jackson is really claiming that he is six feet and one inch tall?” Annabeth asks, tugging the phone from Piper’s hands. “I’m calling bullshit.”

Piper shrugs. “Everyone looks tall to me.”

“I’m 6’2.” Annabeth tells Piper. “And Percy is definitely not close to my height.”

Annabeth continues to read down his bio, and without her permission, Piper reaches over and swipes right across her screen. 

“Piper!”  
Piper makes this gurgly laugh sound and leans back on the couch. “What? You were going to do it anyways.”

“No, I wasn’t.”

“But you know him! It’d be impolite not to.”

“Well, then I’m impolite.”

“Oh well.. It’s too late.”

*  
“We stayed up too late.” Piper groans as Annabeth’s 5am alarm rings out the next morning. “Why’d we do this on a Wednesday?”

“You’d think we had more sense than this.” Annabeth confirms, raking her hands through her messy hair. 

She glances over at Piper, sprawled out in her bed, and she squeezes her eyes shut, remembering a similar memory. 

_"I told you partying the night before graduation was a bad idea.” Annabeth says, head leaning onto whoever is next to her on the stairs. That same someone wraps an arm around her shoulders, offering a little comfort in that trying time._

_Piper hefts a dozing Jason up a little further and grimaces. “We stayed up too late I’ll admit, but this was fun! It was totally worth it. Now the sleep is going to feel even better.”_

Annabeth shakes the high school memory out of her head, something that had become a more frequent habit as of late, and leans over to grab her phone. She presses the home button to find many _many_ tinder notifications. Intrigued by the concept, she clicks on the Superlike notification and unlocks her phone. 

Annabeth has to laugh as she sees Percy’s profile pull up with a message. 

**Percy**

_I wasted my Superlike on you and I couldn't even get one in return? That’s cold, Chase._

Annabeth decides to reply. 

_Well maybe if you weren't lying in your bio, you could’ve got better_

Annabeth goes to set her phone down, but is stopped by the chime of a notification, and another groan from Piper. Cautiously, Annabeth pulls it back up. 

**Percy**

_I’m a Leo, honest. Want to see my birth certificate?_

**Annabeth**

_I’m talking about your height, dumbass_

“Who’re you messaging?” Piper asks, lifting up her head. 

“Percy.” Annabeth says. “Dumbass.”

“Good.” Piper says, a sleepy smile. “I want you guys to be friends.”

Annabeth furrows her brows. “We are." she says, thinking back to how Percy said goodbye to her the other night. "Well, kind of.”

“That’s good.”

*

The workday that followed Piper and Annabeth’s college-esque wine party was pretty hellish. Notifications and the cadence of her coworker’s voices seemed to be the particular offenders of annoying her, but her Frank coffee was a pretty good way to handle it. Annabeth also found herself diving back into sketches when she had a lull in her work, using the back of some old work messages to create. 

By that night, Annabeth doesn’t even feel the need to cool off from her workday before bussing to Piper’s apartment for a wedding planning meeting. 

“It’s not a lie.”  
Annabeth glances over her shoulder. “It’s funny how we keep ending up at this elevator.”

“You know I’m not some hyper--masculine guy obsessed with his height and being taller than girls, quite the opposite really.” Percy explains, as the two of them step into the elevator. “But I do have a problem with you thinking I would lie to you and the other good people of tinder.”

Annabeth turns to face Percy, her nose proving to be significantly higher than his. She raises an eyebrow. 

“Oh come on, fair shot. Take the heels off.”

Annabeth complies, kicking her shoes off and stepping a bit closer to him, proving her nose to be just above his. 

“See?” he asks, raising his eyebrow right back at her. “If you’re 6’2, then you can see I’m 6’1.”

Annabeth sniffs. “Fine.” she says, stepping back. “ _Maybe,_ you’re 6’1.”

Percy laughs. “I’ll take it.”

Annabeth picks her heels up off the floor and holds them in one hand, glancing back at the climbing floors. 

“And also-” Percy says, scratching the back of his neck. “As much fun as it was to see you and speak to you in the wild habitat of an online dating app, I think it would be easier for us to talk if we just texted-”

The elevator door opens to reveal a face that neither Annabeth nor Percy had seen in a long time. 

“What is UP? Oh man have I missed my fellow dogs.” Arms encircle Annabeth and Percy and pull them into the shorter man with the huge grin. “I cannot wait for this wedding to take over our lives and make the old gang just as close as we used to be.”

Annabeth and Percy share a look over the shoulder of their hug-attacker, before both laughing. Percy extends his arm to fit around Annabeth, and Annabeth herself ruffles the curly mop of hair that hadn’t changed since high school. 

“We missed you too, Leo.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter! Up after a reasonable amount of time! Fantastic.  
> This chapter is kind of my directive into focusing more on the relationships outside of the wedding situation, so I hope to continue to make those more prominent as we go on! I'm still at the place where I'm kind of figuring out the voice of this story so thanks for sticking with me while I'm doing so (and I hope you're having some fun reading while I do)  
> Thanks as always for kudos and comments, they're so great! New update up soon!


	5. Hey, I’ll handle it

“I’m so glad you two are here.” Leo says, squeezing them once more before backing off. “I love nothing more than seeing the best friends of  _ my  _ best friends.”

But Leo doesn’t back off for long, as he steps up to Annabeth and cups her face in his hands. 

“My kids are all grown up! I mean Annabeth, you look so…” he marvels at her for a second, before deciding on the word: “Old!”

Annabeth snorts and shoves Leo away from her. “You mean the wrinkles aren’t making me look younger?”

“You do not have wrinkles.” Percy assures her. 

“Percy on the other hand,” Leo says, stepping over to him, and wrapping an arm around the taller man’s waist, “Same chiseled jawline. Hasn’t changed a bit since high school.”

“Well that’s not true.”

It’s not. Annabeth can’t remember exactly what Percy looked like ten year ago, but she’s pretty sure if he looked like he did now, she would’ve remembered him a little clearer. He has this little scar on his chin and really noticeably bright blue-green eyes, and now all of a sudden, he’s 6’1. If he was exactly the same as he was in high school, Annabeth would’ve noticed that stuff back then. 

Annabeth didn’t even realize she said that first bit out loud, until she zeroes in on the guys staring at her. 

She shrugs. “What? It’s not.”

“Do I look old too?” 

Annabeth hesitates a second too long, and Percy lays a hand over his heart. 

“Ouch.” 

“Not  _ old _ , just older.”

Leo makes a face. “Harsh, Annabeth.” he says. “And to think that my man was trying to ask you for your number when I rudely interrupted you two.”

Oh yeah. That conversation seems like it was years ago. 

“Why don’t you have my number?” Annabeth asks, brows pulling down in confusion.

Percy avoids her gaze, which is strange. “I mean,” he begins, “we’re not exactly the closest people on earth, Annabeth.”

_ You said we were friends _ , Annabeth thinks, but she guesses Percy just says things like that, not really meaning it to hold the weight Annabeth took from it. 

Annabeth purses her lips before reaching into her purse and shoving her phone at Percy. 

“Noted. Put yours in my phone then.” Annabeth says, crossing her arms. “Maybe then we could be friends.”

Percy gives her this look she can’t quite read, before looking down at the phone in his hand. 

“Anyways, us three have to get together sometime, because as much as I want the parties and the wedding speech to be fun, I also don’t want to fuck it up, so I’m going to need you two to keep me in check.”

“I was planning on it anyways.” Annabeth tells him. 

“Good. We’ll talk later, but I sort’ve forgot. We have a situation inside, so I should probably bring you guys to the apartment like I was instructed to do.”

Leo turns on his heels and heads towards the apartments before Annabeth even has time to question what the situation is. 

“Here.” Percy says, stopping Annabeth and pulling her attention to the phone outstretched in his hand. 

Annabeth slips her hand around the phone, picking it up out of Percy’s grasp. 

“Thanks.”

Percy gives a nod. “Now we’re official friends.” 

This bit of warmth creeps into Annabeth’s chest, but it’s cut short by Leo’s voice ringing down the halls. 

“Guys! Come on! When I said situation, I meant s i t u a t i o n.”

*

“The wedding planner quit.”

“What?” Percy asks. “Please tell me it wasn’t because of Annabeth.”

Annabeth elbows Percy in the arm beside her, but then the guilt creeps in at the thought.

“Was it me?” she asks, weaker than intended. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Percy’s face fall. 

“Hey, I was kidding-”   
“Of course it wasn’t Annabeth’s fault.” Jason sighs, clearly exasperated. “Our planner took on too many cases I guess, and since we were the least far into our planning, we got cut.”

“And she left you with nothing?” 

Piper shakes her head. “I mean she left the binder, and kept all our appointments, but it’s like having all the materials and no instruction. We just don’t know what to do.”

Unbeknownst to anyone else in the room, Annabeth’s brain has been running into overdrive as soon as she heard the news, thinking of ways to remedy this problem. She hasn’t come up with anything fully formed yet, but Annabeth makes the executive decision that she’s going to be the one to solve it. 

“Hey, I’ll handle it.” Annabeth says before she can stop herself. “I can find someone.”

Jason looks up at her with wide eyes. “Really? You would do that?”

“Of course I would.” Annabeth says, “You two are stressed and busy enough as it is, I’ll take care of this.”

“Annabeth, do you have the time for that?” Percy asks, hand setting on her arm. “Because I’m more than willing to put time in. I’m sure I have more free time than you.”

Annabeth heats up a little at the idea of Percy getting involved. She always hated group projects, and in hopes of avoiding lashing out at Percy Jackson in a stressful situation, Annabeth decides he’s coming nowhere near this. She’s got a lot of pride, and a half-friendship with Percy, and she’s not giving either of those things up. 

She pulls her arm away from Percy’s touch. “I’m fine.” she clears her throat, sparing Percy a glance, “I’ll update at the next meeting.”

Piper sighs. “Thank you Annabeth. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Annabeth thinks Piper should save the praises until Annabeth actually solves her problem, but she doesn’t comment. She just nods. 

*

Piper gives Annabeth the thick, pink binder, and Annabeth’s study senses start tingling at the site. She knows nothing about weddings. She’s not one to admit her lack of knowledge on a topic, but in this case, she’s owning up to it, and studying the binder with intrigue. 

“We’re going dress shopping this weekend?”

Piper raises her eyebrows. “Oh. Yeah, probably. I’m not really sure. I mean I have  _ my  _ dress, so this is a bridesmaids dress thing.”

“We’re coming to that too, right?” Leo asks.    
“Oh of course. Piper says. “We’re doing everything together.”

Annabeth makes a mental note to add in wedding planner finding to the calendar so she can figure that out before their dress shopping on Saturday. She’ll find time for it. Somewhere in between normal wedding meetings and work stuff and keeping up the boxing pact and making sure her cat stays alive. Easy.

*

Frank isn’t at work the next day which significantly bums Annabeth out. He might have mentioned he was gonna be gone, but Annabeth was taken aback by the lack of coffee and the lack of a friendly face in her consulting meeting. Malcolm brought in a model. It was fine, nothing special to Annabeth, but without Frank there to talk with, Annabeth’s jealousy started to seep in again. She got frustrated with putting work into someone else’s dream, and that didn’t improve as she started searching for wedding planners for someone else’s wedding. 

Annabeth resents her attitude shift. She has been pretty happy over the past few weeks, and for not really any reason, she seems to be angry at the world all over again. Annabeth books a room at her least favorite place for after work, and shoves the remaining anger down for later. She buries her head into her work and continues research on her new materials. Malcolm asked her to write up a company proposal for usage in addition to what she’s doing with the skyline building, so she throws herself into that, hoping she can ignore the gross feeling she gets when she’s alone with her thoughts too long. Before long, Annabeth has this long list of wedding planners to contact and about five pages of her proposal done. Annabeth wants to pretend she was totally focused on those tasks, but she has to admit, her mind did drift to a certain black haired tour guide. 

Ew. Annabeth forgot he was a tour guide. 

Whatever. As Frank is gone, Annabeth thought about other friends she has, and the declaration of Percy actually being her friend the day before stuck in her mind. She should text him. 

She pulls her phone out and clicks onto her contacts, scrolling down to J. She doesn’t find his name there, and scrolls down lower to see that Percy put himself in without a last name. Probably just to annoy her. 

Annabeth clicks on him and hastily adds the name Jackson to the contact, before opening a new message to him. Annabeth types three different messages and hovers over the send button for another minute before going with:

_ Hey. This Annabeth texting you so you have my number.  _

Short and to the point. 

She sets her phone down, and not five minutes later, it buzzes with a text. It’s strange how prompt he answers things. 

_ Hey. I’m actually surprised you texted me. I took your number out of your phone when you gave it to me because I didn’t expect a response.  _

Annabeth wrinkles her nose. 

_ Why not?  _ She responds.  _ We’re friends, right? _

Her phone buzzes again before she can even think of going back to her work. 

_ Well yeah. And friends let friends help find wedding planners for other friends, don’t they? _

Annabeth rolls her eyes.  _ We’re not that good of friends yet.  _

She can almost hear Percy sigh through the phone. 

_ Come on, Annabeth. We can meet up when your work gets out, figure it out together. _

_ Sweet of you Percy, but 1. I said I had it covered, and 2. I can’t after work. I have a date with a man I hate and a printer. _

Annabeth waits for a second. Percy’s persistent, so she’s expecting a text to come through, and it does. 

_ Do I even get a hint of what that’s supposed to mean? _

Annabeth laughs.  _ Not a chance.  _

*

“Long time no see.” 

Annabeth tugs her hair into a bun, ignoring the man at the front desk of the break room. 

“Gotta be honest, when we didn’t see you for a couple of weeks, I thought you took my advice.”

“Tried it. Didn’t work.” she says, “Now, can I have my bat?”

The man at the counter sniffs and hands her the bat, gloves, and goggles without a fight, and Annabeth takes them. 

By the time she gets in her room, Annabeth’s anger has sort of drained. It’s instead replaced with this strange sort of determination. After going back to being overlooked at work again today, Annabeth’s self doubt reared its head a little bit. And despite him trying to be nice, so did Percy offering to help her find the wedding planner, as if she was incapable of getting something done right herself. These little things have sunk into Annabeth’s brain, and made her more determined than ever to prove herself at work and to her friends. To prove that she can do literally anything, and no one can stop her. 

She lays into a few printers, her favorites, before going in for the glass bottles. She lifts one up to throw, and for a second, she has this image of bottles filled with lights hanging outside in the trees. 

“That would be pretty.” she murmurs, before lobbing it at the wall and watching it shatter. 

She shatters three more, and then over to the keyboard, hearing a soft live band before crashing it with her bat. 

All these thoughts keep pouring into Annabeth’s head, until it hits her. She pulls off her helmet, and hurriedly pulls her phone out of her pocket, dialing the first number on speedial. 

“I’ve got it, Piper.” she says, feeling more determined than ever to prove herself. “I’m going to plan your wedding.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter! And on time! This is incredible folks honestly.   
> Yay! I can't tell you how excited I am to be planting the first seeds of percabeth into the minds of these characters. It's been such an interesting journey trying to figure these characters out as I've never written Annabeth or Percy as the leads of a story before so thanks for being patient while I write and try to work out all their quirks as well.   
> The larger plot is starting to shape up and I cannot wait to see where this story goes from here.   
> Thanks for all the kudos and comments and everything else nice y'all leave me!  
> New chapter up soon :)


	6. It’s about damn time!

“I’m sorry, what?”

“I’m going to plan your wedding.” Annabeth reaffirms. 

“What happened to finding another planner?”

Well, Annabeth did find another planner, many in fact, but the truth is, Annabeth wants nothing more than to shut down her personal doubts and show everyone how capable she is. And obviously make Piper’s wedding the best it can be, but mostly the other stuff. 

“I was just thinking that since the last planner left all of the stuff to us, it wouldn’t make sense to hire some stranger to use her work.” Annabeth explains, speaking pretty much out of her ass. “I have all her resources, you don’t need to pay me, and I know you and Jason better than anyone else does.”

A beat passes.

“Don’t I?”

“Of course you do.” Piper answers. “And I know you would be incredible, I just don’t like the idea of taking even more of your time than I already have, on top of forcing wedding and marriage stuff down your throat because I know it’s not your thing.”

Annabeth sets her sledgehammer down. “What do you mean it’s not my thing?”

“Annabeth it’s not a secret you don’t love the whole big wedding show and dance. Remember the first wedding planner meeting?”

Okay, fair point. 

“Just because I don’t like all aspects of it doesn’t mean I don’t want to do this for you, Piper.”

Piper sighs. “Just a second, I’m gonna get Jason so he can be in on the conversation.”  
A minute later, Annabeth can hear the change as she’s put on speakerphone. 

“What’s up?” Jason’s voice comes. 

“Annabeth wants to plan our wedding.”

“Oh sweet!” Jason replies. “Honestly, I kind of wanted to ask her from the beginning, but I didn’t think she’d want to.”

Annabeth is surprised by that, considering she herself didn’t think about planning the wedding until about five minutes ago. “Really?”

“Course. You’re very organized and know us really well.” he explains. “We would get everything we want and not have to make a bunch of decisions because you’d do it and get it all right.”

Annabeth is warmed by Jason’s faith in her. If he gets Piper on board with Annabeth planning, then she can start to actually live up to that faith. 

“Don’t tell me you never thought of it.” Jason says pointedly to his fiancee. 

“Fine okay, obviously I’ve thought about it.” Piper admits, “But I refuse to use Annabeth without paying her! And I want her to still have free time! And time where we can hang out without talking about the wedding, you know?”

“Piper don't worry about me.” Annabeth assures. She has literally all the free time in the world. Having no life does in fact come in handy sometimes. “I promise I can do it all.”

“You’re sure?”

Annabeth nods. “I’m sure.”

“Okay. You’re hired.”

*

Those magic words unleash Annabeth. The second she gets home that night, she bypasses the shower and barely manages to feed Eero before locking herself in her workroom, this time with the wedding binder in tow. Within the first hour, Annabeth could rattle off every wedding caterer in the city, as well as the ones she thinks are shit based on the research she’s done. A lot of the stuff the wedding planner did was nice, but Annabeth found herself striking things out, adding in her own thoughts, and even drawing little pictures of what she’s imagining. She sees it so clearly. This sweet little backyard wedding with an acoustic band and tiny lights all hung around the lawn. Piper and Jason up at the front, the whole wedding party in tow, and everyone at the wedding talking about how great of a job Annabeth did. Okay, this fantasy is getting a little too self-indulgent and Annabeth is getting ahead of herself. Another hour passes and Annabeth has her own binder filled with all the important stuff from the old one plus all of the new stuff she’s added in to improve it. Marveling at her own handiwork. Annabeth can barely pull herself out of her marveling to answer her phone. 

“Hello.” she answers, not having bothered to look at who was calling. 

“Hey, Annabeth. I’m calling because I heard about your promotion.” 

Oh. It’s Percy. 

“Seems like you have an opinion on it.” she says. 

“You know me so well.” he comments. “But the thing is, on a scale of one to ten, how much does my opinion matter to you?”

Annabeth contemplates this. “A six?”

“Higher than I expected.” he says. “Well, in that case I’m going to go ahead with it. I think you need my help.”

Annabeth lets out a laugh. She didn’t mean for it to come out so rudely, but she doesn’t take it back. “I don’t _need_ help from anyone, Percy.” Annabeth tells him. “I have the whole wedding under control.”

“I don’t doubt that Annabeth, but what about your work? And your mental state? I don’t want to steal your thunder, I just want to lighten the load.”

Annabeth’s throat feels a little thicker than usual as she hears Percy’s words. He’s so adamant about her not overextending herself. Annabeth wants to think he has some deep seeded sexism inside him so she can be mad at him for trying to take over her planning, but she knows that’s not it. Percy just confusingly seems to have innate empathy for other people, even people he’s barely crossed the friend barrier with. 

Annabeth shakes her head, as if Percy can see that, ignoring his kindness.   
“I don’t need you to lighten the load.” she says, firmly. “I can do this, I have to do this.”

“Annabeth-”  
Annabeth clears her throat, cutting him off. “Actually, I’m glad you called.” she says, flipping open the binder. “Are you still free for the fitting on Saturday? It’s at noon.”

Percy’s quiet for a second, but he eventually lets out a defeated sigh. “Yes, I’ll just be a little late. I play pickup basketball with some of the guys in my neighborhood in the morning, but I’ll be there.”

“Good.” Annabeth affirms, feeling her shoulders relax for the first time since Percy spoke. She writes in the conflict for future reference and takes a deep breath. “I’ll see you then.”

“See you.” he says. “Please text me whenever you need to.”

Annabeth’s confidence wavers again at the kindness, but she shakes it off quickly. “Okay. Thanks.”

*

Piper and Jason are ecstatic when they meet with Annabeth the next day. She walks them through all the work she did the night before as if it was nothing. As if she wasn’t in a red bull fueled determined chaotic haze as she assembled it. Their appreciation for her boosts her back up again, and when Frank is back at work bringing her her usual coffee, she can’t help but feel... great.

“You look happy this morning.” Frank comments, as Annabeth joins him at their usual table in the lounge. 

Annabeth can’t help but laugh. “You sound so surprised.”

Frank laughs. “I mean you and I aren’t known for being the happiest people in the office.” he says. “Come to think of it, I’m actually missing the glare you usually have on.”

“I bet.” Annabeth says. “I’m surprised you even recognized me.”

Frank smiles. “On a serious note, It’s nice to see you in a good mood.” he says, “Even more so because I need a favor.”

Annabeth raises an eyebrow. “Okay, let me hear it.”

“In addition to Malcolm’s, I’m working on Jake’s new project, and he asked me to make up a 3D model of the building.” he explains, avoiding Annabeth’s eye contact. She can tell he’s nervous, but she commends him for asking her anyways. “I’ve made models before obviously, but this is my first professional opportunity and I really want to do well.”

Frank clears his throat and finally meets her eyes. “I know that you’re really busy, and this stuff is way below your skill level, but it would mean a lot to me if you could, I don’t know- look over my project every once in a while? Make sure I’m not royally fucking it up?”

“Yeah.” she says, giving Frank a light punch to the arm. “Of course.”

“Really?”  
“Oh don’t act surprised. You knew I’d say yes.”   
“I _hoped.”_ Frank corrects her, a grin on his face. “Thank you. Seriously.”

Annabeth nods, mentally penciling Frank time into her calendar in purple pen. “I’m always keen to share my knowledge with the youth.”

Frank snorts, something he seems to have picked up from Annabeth. “No you’re not.”

“No, I’m not. But I’ll happily share it with you.”

*

By the end of the week, Annabeth feels pretty confident in her compartmentalizing skills as she has divided her time between work, Frank work, wedding planning, and basic human needs. Even she is impressed by how quickly she’s adapted to her new role. It’s almost like she’s on autopilot, knowing exactly what to do to get things done. The only times she wavers are when she gets texts from Percy Jackson, but those seem to be fewer and far between as she continues to rebuff his offers to help. Besides Percy Jackson, everyone seems to notice this change in Annabeth’s behavior. Not just the happier demeanor, as she gets things done, but also in the form of recognition. Piper and Jason continue to laud her efforts, and even on Friday at the end of the day, Annabeth got a comment from her boss. 

“Chase. Just read your proposal on more sustainable materials and suppliers.” he said, as he was heading out the door. “Nice work.”

“Thank you, sir.” is what she said out loud, but in her head, her response was more like; _It’s about damn time!_

So, Annabeth enters into Saturday in her wedding mode. She buses to Piper and Jason’s earlier in the morning so she can take them out to eat, before arriving early to the dress shop. Piper has had a wedding dress in her possession for much longer than she’d care to admit, so today is about the bridesmaids. 

Annabeth is sure it’ll go by smoothly on the dressing end, as Annabeth and Piper’s friend from college are the only bridesmaids; but she’s unsure how well the appointment will fare with all of the boys there spitting in opinions. 

Annabeth loves him, but Leo’s idea of fashion isn’t exactly one Annabeth herself adheres to. 

The second they arrive, Annabeth turns off her planner brain, and tries to be maid of honor brained for the first time in a while. Emphasis on tries, as after the free champagne, Annabeth’s monkey brain takes over and she finds herself gawking at all the pretty dresses. Hazel's friend Piper arrives shortly after them, and Annabeth can tell she likes her straight away. They’ve met before, definitely, but Annabeth is happy to become reacquainted. Leo shows up right after Hazel and he raises the excitement level tenfold. So much so, they have to explain that no, Leo isn’t the one getting married, he’s just really invested. Since Percy is coming late, they make the decision to start without him. 

“So tell me,” Lacy, the woman working with them, says, “do you have specific colors and styles in mind?”

Piper sits up a little straighter. “Actually yeah. This is something I’m very passionate about because I want my girls to look amazing.” Piper smiles, reaching over to squeeze Annabeth and Hazel’s wrists. “I’m looking for sleeveless dresses, they don’t have to be the same style or length, but I want them to be in either a burgundy, or a mustard, or any kind of subdued warm tones.”

She glances at Jason. “Anything to add?”

Jason smiles. “We just want the girls to be comfortable and happy in what they’re wearing.”

Lacy smiles at the couple. “Perfect. Well, here’s what we’re going to do. All of the dresses we keep in store can be made in a variety of warm colors so I’ll let you all browse through the selection. I’ll pick a few, your party can pick some as well, and then we’ll have a little fashion show, yeah?”

“Yes!” Piper says, clapping her hands together. “I’m so excited.”

Lacy sets them loose and Annabeth teams up with Leo to scour the racks and racks of dresses. 

“What about this one?” Leo asks. He’s got this skin tight dress pressed up against him, striking what he probably thinks is a great model pose. 

“You look lovely, darling.” Annabeth tells him, “But I think it suits you more than me.”

“Are you kidding? You’d kill this look. It’s like your black dress.”  
Annabeth turns on her heels to look at him. “My black dress? How do you know about my black dress?”

“Other than the fact that no one stops talking about you in that dress.” Leo says with a shrug. “Percy showed me a picture of you in it. You looked great.”

Annabeth doesn’t think she likes that. That’s weird. She doesn’t like the idea of Percy having a laugh with Leo over her tinder profile he happened upon, but to be fair, she did it with his, with Piper. So she decides to let that one slide. 

“Thanks.” is what she ends up saying. “But that’s my going out dress, I don’t think it’s the wedding look if you know what I mean.”

Leo nods, hanging the dress back up. “Something more virginal then?”

Annabeth snorts. “Not virginal, just more than a second layer of skin.”

She rifles through and pulls out a long dress. It’s sleeveless like Piper wanted, with a deep v neck and long flowy bottom. 

She pulls the hanger over her head and turns to Leo. 

“My vibe?” she asks. He rubs a hand over his chin, analyzing the dress. Annabeth feels like she can see the cogs turning in that mechanic brain of his. 

“Yes.” he lands on. “Sophisticated, but just enough flowy Piper energy to make it work.”

Annabeth smiles at him. “I thought you were gonna be pretty shit at this.” she tells him. “All messy and full of bad opinions.”

“Oh thanks for having faith in your old friend.” Leo says, sarcastically. “I’m very poised, you know? I’m more than the guy who set off a firecracker in his own pants in high school. “

Annabeth laughs at the memory. “I know I know.” she assures him. “I just forget. I mean sometimes I feel like I haven’t changed at all since high school which is a horrible thought.”

It’s true. Annabeth was just as stubborn and control freak-y back in the day, and as much as she likes to think she outgrew some of her traits, they’re still very much there. Why wasn’t she like Percy Jackson? He got interesting _and_ he got abs after high school. 

“Hey, I can’t comment on the lack of personality change, but at least you got rid of those bangs.”

Annabeth cracks another smile. “Very fuckin’ true. Thanks, Leo.”

*

After about twenty minutes, Annabeth has pulled another dress for Hazel, and met the rest of the group at the fitting rooms. Everyone has a dress or so in tow, and very quickly Annabeth and Hazel are swooped up to try on their first dresses. The first dress thrown to Annabeth is a long white dress with a tie in the front. It’s nice, and light, but it doesn’t do much for her. She steps out to the hopeful eyes of her friends and feels a little shy under their gaze, for some reason. She gives a twirl, and despite their smiles she can tell they’re not feeling it. 

“You look beautiful.” Jason says, “But I don’t think it’s perfect.”

“I think Annabeth needs tighter at the top.” Piper decides. “That flatters her more.”

Hazel comes out in a similar dress, with a similar reaction, and both the women retire back to their dressing room. 2 or 3 more dresses get their chance to shine, including the one Annabeth picked out for herself, but nothing is quite working. Hazel however, steps out in this gorgeous dress on her second try. It’s this off the shoulder dress in a warm orangey-gold color that hits right at her thighs. She looks so good that the second she walks out everyone immediately floods her with compliments. 

“The style is so perfect.” Piper squeals. “Oh my god this is making everything seem so real!”  
“I love this.” Hazel beams. “Look it even has pockets!”

She shoves her hands into the pockets, and spins on her tiptoes. 

“And I can dance in it.” she points out, shaking her hips at the crowd. 

“Have we found one winner?”

“Yes!” A unanimous response answers. 

“Now, we can make this in a burgundy color as well. I could pull out a dress in that color if you want to compare.”

“I’d be interested in that.” Piper says. “Haze?”

Hazel nods. “I’d definitely want to see.”  
“Alright.” Lacy says with a smile. “Now I’ll put Annabeth here in a dress I’ve got in the back just for color comparison, and then we can find her the perfect one too.”

Piper waves at Annabeth as she is taken back to the depths, and Annabeth blows a kiss over her shoulder at her friend. This is fun. It reminds Annabeth of prom dress shopping with Piper and trying on all the dresses they had at the thrift store, both the heinous ones and pretty okay ones. 

Annabeth waits patiently in the dressing room, hummed to relaxation by the chatter of her friends out in the main area. Soon enough, Lacy returns with a dark red dress. 

“Now this isn’t one we picked, but it’s one of the colors you mentioned, so I thought it’d be alright.”

Annabeth slips into the dress, and it feels good. It’s the burgundy maroon-y color she mentioned and it surprisingly fits her perfectly. It’s got pretty thin straps, and a top part that hugs her curves as Piper requested. It’s a bit looser at the bottom, but not by much as it fits to her body and stops mid-thigh. 

“I can’t see myself, but I feel like I look hot.” Annabeth says, as Lacy is zipping her up. “Is that a fair assessment?”

Lacy steps in front of her and looks her over. “Very fair assessment.”

Annabeth smiles, brushing her hair back behind her shoulder. “Good.”

Even though she’s only in the dress for color comparison, Annabeth is kind of into it! 

“You know what,” Lacy says, “Stay here for a second. I’m going to give you a little dramatic entrance.”

Annabeth agrees to it and waits at the foot of the dressing room. 

“So, Annabeth is wearing a dress we didn't grab off the rack, but it’s in the exact color we could make Hazel’s dress into. Are you ready to see it?”  
A flurry of applause and hoots of encouragement is Annabeth’s cue. She smooths the dress over her hips and walks out. 

For a second, Annabeth feels like her life was put on mute as she stands in front of them. Every person in the wedding party, including Percy who had arrived at some point and sat himself in the middle of the couch, is sitting dead silent, staring at her. 

“Holy shit.” Piper says, finally breaking the silence. “Annabeth you look UNREAL.”

Annabeth’s face flushes bright red against her will as Piper opens the Pandora’s box of compliments from all of their friends with that statement. She knew she looked good, but she really didn’t think the response would be so excessive. She finds herself messing with her hair again, not knowing what to do with herself as they fawn over her. 

“Seriously, this tops the black dress, I’ll say it.” Leo throws in.

“It looks so good, Annabeth.”

“Piper, are you worried she’ll overshadow you?” Hazel teases, and Piper laughs. 

“Oh no, I’m so excited for her to. I would be an awful best friend if I didn’t force her to wear this gorgeous dress that was _made_ for her.”

In the flurry, Annabeth finds herself focusing in on Percy who has yet to say anything. He’s had his eyes trained on her, but not so much as a peep has come out. Annabeth manages to catch his eye. She raises an eyebrow, silently asking his opinion on the dress. 

He gets a slight smile on his lips and mouths the word “Wow.”

Annabeth gives him a nod back, happy the love of this dress is unanimous. 

“So, I can clearly see the reaction for this dress for Annabeth is overwhelming.” Lacy smiles. “So, I take it the color is good for everyone? The fit as well?”

“Can you dance in it?” Leo asks. “Very important question.” 

It is a little tighter, but Annabeth doesn’t think there’ll be a problem with movement. She doesn’t want to try and recreate Hazel’s cute little dances as that’ll make her look stupid, so instead she does something else. 

“Percy, come here.”

Percy, looking all disheveled with his wet hair and hoodie gets up nonetheless and walks to Annabeth, eyebrows raised. 

“Let’s see if I can dance.” she says, offering a hand to him. He rolls his eyes a little, but takes it. He also takes the liberty of putting a hand on her waist, tugging them a bit closer. Annabeth expects to take the lead, but Percy steps forward, beginning a dance. He twirls Annabeth and forces a bit of footwork to prove that yes, Annabeth is fully capable of moving in her dress. 

She makes eye contact with Percy as the two of them are chest to chest, and she is thrown back to prom once again. Annabeth is frozen in place for a second, but manages to step back from him despite the eerily familiar memory that slipped into her brain. A memory her brain really thought wasn’t important to remember until now.   
“Thanks.” she says, feeling strangely out of breath. “I can dance in it.”

Percy nods. “No problem.”

He returns to his seat, and Annabeth walks over to Hazel, standing beside her. 

“Well then.” Lacy says, clapping her hands together. “Do we have our dress winners?”

And from the thunderous response it is clear, yes they do. 

*

Annabeth has been typing and retyping a message for the past five minutes, and yet nothing is sent. It’s about an hour after they finished up at the dress place, and Annabeth is chilling at Piper’s, contemplating what to text Percy. She wants to text them about the memory, seeing if Percy had weirdly buried it as well, or even worse, her brain had fabricated it to fill the void of Annabeth’s memories of high school Percy. After one more deletion, Annabeth does what she always does, and goes for sweet and simple. 

_Hey, weird question. Do you remember slow dancing with me at prom?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayy! A new chapter!  
> I'm kind of cheating saying my update day is Friday when I always post after midnight, but hey. That's not gonna stop me from continuing to say that.  
> I'm actually starting to get excited for this fic. I always have this moment in the beginning where it feels like I'm searching for the heart of voice of a story, and I feel like I've finally got it. I can't wait to have more opportunities for Percy and Annabeth to grow closer, as well as to develop the rest of the characters, who I promise will become more prominent in time.  
> Thanks for all the kudos and comments, they really make my day.  
> New update soon :)


	7. I just want to talk to you

_Course I do. The Paramore is ingrained in my memory._

Paramore! Annabeth remembers Paramore. And as that specific song reintroduces itself to Annabeth, all at once the memory comes back to her.

~

_“Come on Annabeth!”_

_Annabeth, curled bangs and long ugly blue dress and all shakes her head, refusing to get up from the bleachers._

_“I’m not third wheeling you, Piper!” she says, adamantly. “If I want to dance with someone, I’ll find someone, okay?”_ _  
__Piper, looking significantly better than Annabeth, frowns. She glances between Jason with his prom king crown in tow, and Annabeth sitting alone on the bleachers before letting out a sigh._

_“Fine. But please come find us after the slow dance is over.”_

_Annabeth waves the couple away. “I will.”_

_Annabeth glances out at the dance floor. She looks out at the sea of students, basically the entire population of seniors. Well, except for her. Annabeth came in a group of friends, but that pretty much translated to Annabeth didn’t have a date, and Piper didn’t want her to feel bad. Piper’s plan worked for the most part, but at the moment, it’s obvious Annabeth is on her own. As much as she wants to admit she doesn’t want any part of the stupid high school tradition, her heart sinks a little at the fact she’s basically the only person she knows who isn’t out there dancing with a date._

_It doesn’t matter though, Annabeth tells herself, because she’s also the only person with a full ride to the nicest college within 100 miles of them. She’s the smartest in her class, she’s not horrible looking, and she has a best friend who tries so hard to include her in everything._

_So, why is she still upset?_

_She doesn’t even waste her time looking at the group of single guys loitering by the basketball hoop because she knows she’ll never stoop to asking them. She’s too proud for that. Instead she resigns herself to pretending to be really interested in the manicure Piper did for her._

_It’s not long before Annabeth feels someone sit beside her. She immediately sits up straight, neutralizing her face as she glances over at Percy, sitting there in some shabby old tux, offering her a drink._

_“Oh…. uh, thanks.” Annabeth says, taking the punch from him. She’s pretty sure Percy wouldn’t have done anything weird to the drink so she takes a sip._

_“How’s your night?” he asks, taking a drink from his own cup. She glances over at him, watching her._

_“Good.” she tells him. Lie. “It’s just like any other dance, I guess.”_ _  
__Percy nods. The quiet between them returns. The song currently playing ends, and Annabeth gets a shred of hope the slow songs are done, but that’s defeated as the beginning chords of The Only Exception pours out of the speakers._

_“Hey, Annabeth.” Percy says, raising his voice a little over the sound of the music. “I was wondering if you’d do me a favor.”_

_Annabeth furrows her brows. “What?”_

_“I feel like a bit of an idiot sitting out here on my own.So I was hoping I could convince you to dance with me." Annabeth throat catches a little at Percy's words. "Just one dance, I promise. It would just help spare my ego."_

_Percy raises his eyebrows and Annabeth bites down on her lip before giving a nod._

_“Yeah.” she says. “Only to spare your ego.”_

_He smiles. “Thanks.”_

_Percy hops up, abandoning his cup and holds his hands out to Annabeth. She rolls her eyes and takes them, allowing the boy to pull her out to the dance floor. It was fleeting, dancing with Percy. Annabeth’s chest was pressed up against his for less than two minutes, but in that time, Percy managed to make Annabeth feel significantly less alone._

_~_

Annabeth is surprised she forgot that. Why did her brain deem that moment unimportant? Her high school memories are filled with award ceremonies and A papers, which are nice too, but Annabeth kind of wished she’d let these ones stick around.

**Annabeth**

_Ah yes. How very 2010._

**Percy**

_Did dancing in the store give you flashbacks? I have to admit it reminded me too._

“Annabeth! You’re not even looking.”

**Percy**

_That dance was probably the best moment of my senior prom._

“Annabeth!”

Annabeth whips her head up from the screen, and all thoughts of Percy fly out of her head as Annabeth stares in awe at Piper in her wedding dress. 

“It’s pretty, right?” Piper says, softly lifting the fabric of the skirt. 

Annabeth sighs, dropping her chin into her palms. “It’s beautiful. You look so beautiful.”

“It was my mom's,” Piper tells her. “She never ended up wearing it, obviously, but it’s nice to still have something of hers.” 

Annabeth nods. 

“I kind of tried it on as a nostalgic thing, but it fit perfectly, and I fell in love with it."

Annabeth smiles. Piper is so happy. Annabeth knows she’s been trying on this dress for years ever since her and Jason got serious, and that only lights the fire under Annabeth’s ass even more. She can’t help but need to give Piper the wedding she’s always dreamed of. 

“What are you doing for your hair?”

Piper shrugs and shuffles over to plop on the couch beside Annabeth. 

“I’m not sure yet. Will you help me figure it out?”  
Annabeth smiles. “Of course.”

*

The next few weeks pass, and Annabeth is convinced she’s superhuman. No, really. She has probably broken some kind of world record or proved that humans only need 22 minutes of sleep a night to be functional. The only thing that seems to be paying for Annabeth overworking herself is her skin, as her undereyes are distinctly more bluey purple than before. Annabeth could care less about that though. At this point, she’s come to terms with the fact she’s not getting laid until after this wedding is over.

At the moment her brain is an itemized list that she’s been doing her hardest to check off. Save The Dates have been sent out, catering has been contacted, a venue has been picked, and Annabeth is consistently proving to Piper and Jason that she can in fact do it all. 

“Hey are you free?” Frank asks, as he swings by Annabeth at her desk. She looks up from her papers and Frank takes one look at her and backtracks. “Or if you’re not feeling it… We can do this another time.”

Annabeth rubs at her eye. “No, I’m good. Let’s see it.”

Annabeth grabs her mug of lukewarm coffee and urges herself to be a little more awake for Frank’s showing. He’d been working pretty tirelessly on this model so she owes it to him. Annabeth herself would’ve only taken a week at most, but Frank seemed really intent on making the model more than what was expected of him, which Annabeth could relate to. 

Annabeth steps into the conference room and Frank is standing at the table beside the model. 

She raises her eyebrows and walks closer to it, inspecting. The building is a new complex downtown. It’s about three stories tall with balconies at each window, with patterning down the sides. 

“The Polyamide worked really well, I’m glad you decided to go with it.” Annabeth comments, kneeling down to get a better look. “It allowed you to get so much more detail.”

“Thanks.” Frank says, sheepishly. “That stencil you gave me helped a lot too.”

Annabeth feels warm inside at the sight of it. She can’t even find something to criticize. These past couple of weeks had seen Annabeth giving Frank pretty harsh constructive criticism, but he thrived off the honesty, never taking her words negatively. And from the looks of it, it paid off. 

“So?”

“It’s great. No comments.”

“Come on, there’s gotta be something you’d change!”

“Nope. Nothing.”

Frank bites his lip, failing to hide the giant smile on his face. 

“Permission to hug?”

Annabeth rolls her eyes, but opens her arms to Frank. He wastes no time barrelling into his arms. Annabeth softens a little into it, feeling a brief moment of physical contact, before he’s pulling away. 

“I couldn’t have done it without you.” Frank gushes. “I have the meeting later this week to show it off to everyone, so let’s hope that goes well.”

“It will.” Annabeth assures him. Frank nods. 

“Annabeth.” 

Annabeth turns over her shoulder to see Malcolm, waiting impatiently. “I’d rather see you working on the project you’re actually assigned to, instead of helping the intern.”

Annabeth doesn’t even let Malcom’s cattiness get to her. “Well since I’ve already completed my three tasks you’ve given me, I can use my free time as I please.”

Malcolm gives her a warning look, but does not press any further. 

“You’ve already finished three things for him? How?” Frank asks. “How do you do it?“

Annabeth shrugs. “I’m a genius.”  
Frank chuckles. “You sure are.”

*

The praise doesn’t end with Frank. Annabeth has been crushing it in the wedding department, and after giving herself her third coffee of the day, she heads to pick up the cake samples from Jason and Piper’s two favorite places to provide an in-home cake tasting. As she’s on the way to the apartment, she gets a text from Percy. That brings a smile to her face. Percy had been a little MIA for the past week because of work, so he and Annabeth had been texting pretty often. 

**Percy**

_I'll be able to make cake tasting tonight! I might be late though. If I am, will you save me some cake?_

**Annabeth**

_Sure. What’s your favorite?_

**Percy**

_Anything but carrot_

**Annabeth**

_Then I’ll make sure to leave a giant slice of carrot cake just for you._

**Percy**

_That’s cold_

**Annabeth**

_Kidding. I’ll leave you something good._

Traffic is bad so her ride to Pipers takes a bit longer than she would have hoped, but she arrives with the cake intact. The second she steps through the door, cheers erupt. Annabeth gives a little wave before gripping the big boxes once again and heading directly into the kitchen. 

“Here.” Piper’s voice comes, pulling one of the boxes out of Annabeth’s arms. “Let me get that.”

She sets the box down on the counter and Annabeth follows suit. Piper pulls Annabeth in for a hug, and she reciprocates, feeling that same warm feeling from earlier. When Piper pulls back from the hug, her face melts into a frown.  
“Annabeth are you okay?” she asks. 

Annabeth gives a smile. “Yeah! Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Look, Annabeth if this is too much-”

Annabeth waves her words away before she can even get them out. “I’m perfect, Piper. If I needed a break I would tell you.”

Piper is always a little harder to convince than Jason or Leo, but Annabeth gives another forced smile, and her best friend calms.

“Okay. Good.” she says. “Thank you again for everything you’re doing. You’re literally the best.”

They break into the boxes and start to separate onto plates. 

“Is everyone here?” Annabeth asks, as she deals out the Red Velvet. “I couldn’t see when I came in.”

Piper nods. “Percy, Leo, and Hazel are here, and Thalia might be stopping later.”  
Annabeth gets even more excited at that. She _loves_ Thalia. 

“Okay, I’ve got Red Velvet all ready to go.” Annabeth tells Piper. “Do we want to do these and the Lemon at the same time?”

Piper nods, placing the Lemon cake on the same plates. They each grab a few and head out to the living room. Annabeth is met with smiling faces and thank you’s from almost everyone in the room as she provides them with their plates, but that all stops when she sees Percy. 

She had been excited to see him, but it’s clear the feeling isn’t mutual as his face falls the second they lock eyes. 

“Hey.” she says tentatively, offering him a plate. “No carrot cake. I’m a woman of my word.”

He takes it, not breaking her gaze. Annabeth is a little confused, but she decides to take a seat next to Percy anyways. He doesn’t ignore her, but he doesn’t really make a move to talk to her either.  
“Are you mad at me?” she murmurs.

He sighs. “I’m not mad Annabeth, i just-”

“Eat the cake!” Piper says, drawing Percy and Annabeth’s attention away from each other. Annabeth gives a smile and goes for the Red Velvet first, her personal favorite. It’s delicious, but a mouthful of cake doesn’t distract her from the fact Percy is acting annoyingly cold towards her. 

“Hey.” Percy says, finally seeming a little softer. He reaches over and squeezes Annabeth’s arm. “I’m not mad, I just want to talk to you.”

“Okay?”

Once the cake has been sampled, the group votes in favor of Red Velvet over Lemon, and decides to continue on with the next two cakes. Annabeth stands up and collects plates. As Piper steps up to join, Percy scrambles up from his seat. 

“Hey, I’ll get these ones.” Percy says, pressing her back down into her seat. 

“Okay!”

Annabeth pulls out the chocolate cake and begins to slice it as Percy enters the kitchen. “What is it you want to talk to me about?” she asks, glancing over at him. 

“Annabeth, have you looked in the mirror lately?”

“Wow, you sure know how to talk to a lady.”

Percy steps closer to her and slips a hand up to her cheek, pulling her to look at him. “Annabeth, you look dead tired." he says, scanning her face. "When was the last time you slept a full eight hours?”

Annabeth rolls her eyes, pulling his hand from her face. 

“Maybe once when I was about ten years old.”

“I’m being serious, Annabeth.” he says, his voice harsher than before. “I’m sick of you deflecting me everytime I offer help, because you’re clearly working yourself to the bone doing it the way you are now."

“Oh my god, Percy. How many times do we have to have this conversation?” she asks, her voice turning to a whisper-yell incredibly quickly. “Why didn’t it register the first fifty times?”  
“I’m just here to help you!” he whisper-yells right back. “And frankly it pisses me off that everyone is just letting you slave away for them with no regard for your well-being!"

Some anger boils up from deep in Annabeth, and she’s not even really sure where it’s coming from. She doesn’t want to be mad at Percy, but he keeps pushing all of her buttons; he's touching on all of the things that make her want to explode.

“Just because you helped me not look like a loser at prom ten years ago doesn’t make you my self-appointed savior.” Annabeth spits. “I’m doing a great job, I’m handling my own shit, and I don’t need your input on anything Percy, okay?”

She stares him down, angrily breathing through her nose. Part of her wants to take it all back the second it comes out of her mouth, but she doesn’t. 

Percy raises his eyebrows at her, and she doesn’t let up on her intense gaze. 

“Okay.” he says softly. “I won’t bother you anymore.”

He shuffles past her and cuts into the Marble cake. He drops his pieces onto the plate in silence. Every once in awhile Percy’s arm brushes against hers, but she’s never felt farther away from him. He grabs half the plates and stalks out, and Annabeth follows. She plasters on a smile and offers a plate to Piper. 

“You’re amazing.” Piper beams. 

Well if I’m so amazing, Annabeth thinks, why do I feel like shit?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeehaw everyone.  
> This new chapter is getting to it. The characters are finally taking the roles I always imagined them to be playing, especially in relation to Annabeth and that's super exciting for me! And don't worry. if you're also tearing your hair out waiting for Annabeth to accept help, you're not alone. I promise that'll be coming and our girl will get to see a brighter lighter side of things she hasn't let herself experience in a long time.  
> Thanks for all the comments and kudos! I hope you're enjoying reading as much as I am writing  
> New update soon!


	8. I see all the work you’re doing, Annabeth

So. Percy kept to his word. Annabeth hasn’t heard from the tour guide in days. She knows that she asked for this. She knows she’s the one who crumpled up Percy’s friendship and threw it back in his face, but she didn’t think it would be like this. She imagined Percy would just start acting like her other friends. Easily convinced into ignoring her flaws and huge praisers of her success. That was obviously wishful thinking, as all Annabeth got during her rise to the top was the distance created between her and a person she considered a friend. 

It doesn’t matter though. Annabeth is powering through. Yes, she feels sick to her gut each time she looks at her phone devoid of texts, but she blames that feeling on the self-care sacrifices she’s been making as of late. Her body is pissed off at her, no doubt about it, but Annabeth can’t help it. She’s been so busy lately it feels like it’s a bite of thai leftovers here, a smushed granola bar there, a nap in between meetings, and a shitload of coffee. It’s not great but hey, Annabeth did the same thing during college application season and she turned out just fine.

*

At work, Annabeth winces at how loud her phone ring sounds to her today. She sees it’s Piper and quickly chugs some of her coffee and puts a more awake persona on. 

“Hey!” Piper says, cheerily. “I only have a minute between clients, can we talk for a second?”   
Annabeth feels this lurch in her chest that Percy may have said something to the couple. 

“Of course!” Annabth replies anyway. 

“I want you to give Hazel something to do.”

A wave of relief crashes over Annabeth. “Okay?”

“She’s awesome. And I know you two aren’t really friends but-”   
“We’re friends.” Annabeth says. Why does everyone keep saying Annabeth isn’t their friend?

Piper backtracks quickly. “No no, I know. Just not… close.”

“Yeah.”

“Anyways, she’s so cool and creative and artistic, and she really wants to feel like she’s doing something to help out the wedding.”

Annabeth scans the upcoming to dos on the wedding list for something for the girl to do. “She could help me with decoration designs I guess?”   
“Perfect!” Piper replies. “She’ll be great for that. You should invite the others too. Have everyone over at your apartment. I think that would be great.”   
“My apartment?” Annabeth asks, incredulously. “Everyone?”   
“Wouldn’t that be fun? Everyone could meet Eero. I bet Percy would love him.”   
Annabeth winces at the mention of Percy, but doesn’t have time to dwell. 

“Annabeth?”   
Annabeth looks up to see not only Frank, but her boss standing in front of her desk. 

“Sorry. Gotta go.” she whispers to Piper before shutting her phone. 

“Hi, yes. Sorry.”

“Annabeth, do you have a minute?”

Annabeth quickly nods and stands up from her desk and follows her boss towards the nearby conference room. 

“What’s happening?” Annabeth murmurs to Frank. “Am I getting fired?”

Frank shakes his head. “Don’t worry, it’s good.”

Annabeth enters and her boss motions for her to have a seat. 

“This won’t be a long conversation,” her boss says, “but I just wanted to mention to you that I see all the work you’re doing, Annabeth.”   
Annabeth straightens up and glances at Frank, who gives her a smile.

“I’ve seen what you’ve been doing with Malcolm’s project, I loved the independent proposal on sustainable and ethically sourced materials, and on top of that you’ve taken to mentoring the intern.” he says, motioning to Frank. 

“You saw the talent in him others neglected to see. You’ve been going above and beyond, and it’s really impressed me.”

“Thank you.” Annabeth says confidently. 

Her boss gives another nod. “So I just wanted to say. I see you. I appreciate you. And if you keep up this work, I see a big bright building, in need of an architect, in your future.”

The Skyline. 

Every negative or Percy-related thought hides deeper in the depths of Annabeth’s brain. All that matters at this moment is that all of Annabeth’s hard work and advances in her career are finally paying off big time. This is it. It’s all been worth it. 

“Thank you again.” Annabeth says, reaching out to shake her boss’s hand. “I will keep working hard. You can be sure of that.”

“I know I can.” her boss agrees. “That’s all, Annabeth. You too, Frank.”

Annabeth walks out of that conference room feeling as confident as she’s ever been. She kind of wants to walk herself over to Malcolm’s desk and accidentally step on him with her heels, or spill coffee on his drawings, but that might be a little overkill. Instead, she channels that energy into pulling Frank out of sight of their boss and giving him a hard hug. 

Frank is surprised clearly, but give in to the second of vulnerability and hugs her back.

“Remind me to buy  _ you _ a coffee tomorrow, okay?” 

Frank smiles. “Okay.”

*

Work is a blur after that. Once Annabeth is on the bus home, she texts Piper to text Hazel the info on her apartment. Annabeth takes the time herself to text Leo, and completely ignores Piper’s idea that she should invite Percy to the meeting. She just can’t handle the empty conversations when she feels so high after what happened at work. 

**Annabeth**

_ Are you busy? _

**Leo**

_ For you? Never.  _

**Leo**

_ Unless it’s during the day then I have work.  _

**Leo**

_ Or at night when I have a sexual caller.  _

**Annabeth**

_ Jfc. Do you want to help me or not?” _

**Leo**

_ Lol. Yeah of course. What’re we doing?” _

**Annabeth**

_ Crafty wedding stuff. Come to my apartment at 7.  _

**Leo**

_ I’ll be there. _

Annabeth stops by the convenience store by her house and picks up random crafty stuff as well as concealer, because she caught a look of herself in the bus window, and about jumped back in fright. She really doesn't need to look like a bog witch right now. She’s home soon after, and promptly passes out. She sleeps for exactly 17 minutes, and then her alarm goes off and she’s up once again. 

Cue the stress cleaning, pissed off cat, snack making, and outfit changing. Annabrth hasn’t had guests over in well, ever. She feels highly awkward having people over, but her high from earlier isn’t going away anytime soon. When Hazel arrives Annabeth greets her excitedly and pulls her in for a hug. 

“Oh, Aw thanks. Hey Annabeth.” Hazel says, rubbing her back. 

Annabeth lets the girl walk in on her own. 

“We should probably wait for Leo so I don’t have to explain things twice.”

Annabeth says, taking a seat at her small table. Hazel sets down her purse and joins her at the table. 

“Makes sense.” she says, with a smile. “Is Percy also coming?”

“No. He’s busy right now.” Annabeth lies. 

“Okay.”

The silence is awkward. Annabeth feels awkward, so she tries to fix it. 

“So, Hazel. Tell me about yourself.”   
Oh god. This feels like an awkward first date.

Thankfully Hazel just laughs. “Okay! Um, I went to school with Piper-”

“What was your major?”   
“Design. For fashion and technology.” she says. “I actually met Piper when I had her walk in one of my clothing showcases.”

“I remember that!” Annabeth says, surprised that memory is back. “I went to that. You’re talented.”

“Thanks! Well, I know you are too. Piper never stops talking about all your accomplishments. I’ve basically been auditing an ‘Annabeth’ course since we met.”

Annabeth smiles at that. Piper thinks so highly of her. 

“What’s the latest news in the architecture world?” Hazel asks, leaning onto her ringed palm. 

Annabeth’s heart jumps at the chance to share her success, and she takes it. ,

“I’m actually most likely going to be designing my own building for the city soon.” she says, proudly. 

*

The conversation is fine after Annabeth shares and receives praises from Hazel, Leo arrives soon after, and Annabeth chides him for still not being able to arrive anywhere on time. That’s when Annabeth takes the time to explain. The goal of the group is to design some table decorations, things to amidst the lights, and anything else interesting they can think of. Knowing Hazel’s eye creativity and Leo’s attention to detail and design, she’s confident the three of them will be able to design some nice stuff. 

And she’s right. An hour later they have drawings of flower globes and floating lanterns, and a standout design from Leo creating tiny painted candle holders of Jason’s family cabin where the two swear they fell in love.

“I mean I was there.” Leo says, as he shares the drawing. “I saw it with my own two eyes. This place means a lot to them, so I think this would be awesome.”

“It’s beautiful, Leo.”

“It is.” Hazel agrees. “But between us three, do we have the artistic ability to pull that off?” 

A very fair question. If Annabeth had time to practice she would, but at the moment, no. Another idea comes to mind, though. Her neighbor. 

Rachel is Annabeth’s next door neighbor, and has been ever since Annabeth moved in. Annabeth hated her for the first three years as she was loud and always smelled like incense, but once she saw her call out their landlord for upcharging and she changed her mind. She grew to like Rachel’s no nonsense attitude. None of that is really relevant, but what is relevant is that she’s a painter. Probably a really good one, as Annabeth knows how expensive it is to live in this building. 

“My neighbor is a painter.” Annabeth says. “She can teach us some stuff.”   
“Really?” Hazel asks. “That would be great.”

“And it sounds fun!” Leo says. “I’ve been trying to get everyone to do a Bob Ross painting night and no one will give in! This could fill the void of that unfulfilled dream for me.”

“I’ll go ask.” Annabeth says, getting up. “Would either of you feel comfortable holding my cat so he doesn’t break out?”

“Hell no.” Leo says, pulling his legs up out of reach of the big gray behemoth. “I love you but this cat is a demon.”

“Fair.”

“Oh Leo stop it.” Hazel says, reaching down and scooping Eero into her arms. “He’s cute. And sweet.”

Those are two words Annabeth has never heard anyone use in the context of her cats, but she can’t help but smile at how Eero turns into a well-mannered baby in Hazel’s arms. 

“Thank you. I’ll be back soon.”

*

“Why?”

“Why what?” 

Rachel leans onto her door frame and brushes a chunk of red curls out of her face. “Why are you at my door?”   
“Okay, I know I haven’t been the friendliest neighbor of all time, but I will hopefully improve that in the future. No promises though.”   
Rachel laughs a little. “Okay?”   
“So, I’m planning a wedding, my best friend’s wedding actually, and we’re making decorations in my apartment.” Annabeth explains. “We have a good idea, but none of us are painters so we’ll probably fuck it up.”

“Are you asking for my help blondie?”   
“No.” Annabeth says quickly, freaking a little at the notion of another person trying to help her. But then she backtracks in realizing, yeah, she is asking for Rachel’s assistance. “I mean yes. We just wanted tips from someone-”

Rachel raises an eyebrow at the pause. 

“From someone talented.”

Rachel eyes her for a second. And then, 

“Okay.”

“Okay?”   
“Yeah. I don’t have any other plans.” Rachel says with a shrug. “I’ll get some materials and meet you over there in a minute.”

“She’ll be over in a minute.” Annabeth says, as she walks back in the door. 

“Perfect.” Leo says. “Now I don’t have to deliver bad news.”

Annabeth furrows her brows. “What bad news?”

“Well, if you didn’t get her then I would have to text Jason, Percy, and Piper the painting party isn’t actually happening and they shouldn’t come.”

Annabeth doesn’t want to be angry at Leo, but the mention of Percy wigs her out a bit.

“Wait, you invited them here?”   
“Well yeah,” Leo says, starting to get nervous at Annabeth’s harsher tone. “I thought it would be a fun thing for the party to do together…?”   
Annabeth closes her eyes for a second and thinks about her conversation with her boss earlier. The tension leaves her shoulders. 

“You’re right. That’ll be fun.”

*

And it is for the most part. Rachel comes over and really likes Leo’s design, and quickly makes up a base design for them on one of the many candle holders Annabeth purchased. The small team works to divide up the supplies so that everyone coming will have one to try out when Rachel teaches them. Piper and Jason arrive first. 

Annabeth hugs the two as they come in and then introductions with Rachel start up again. Annabeth can’t help but think how strange it is to see all the people in her house. But it does fill her with this weird indescribable warmth in the pit of her stomach. 

“I can tell you right now, Jason needs to sit here.” Annabeth says, motioning to the set right beside Rachel. “I know he can’t paint for shit.”

A pottery class together in high school told Annabeth that much. The smartest person in school next to her, delivered some of the ugliest artistic creations she had ever seen. But he never let it get him down. 

Jason laughs at her words. “Oh yeah, that’s definitely a good idea.”

They settle on the floor, couch, and table, and wait for Percy to arrive. 

“So, how’s everyone doing?” Piper asks with a grin. “And I’m not talking about wedding planning, I want real stuff.”

“Nothing really interesting.” Hazel tells her. “We put new jewelry on display at the store but that’s about it. Gosh, I thought adult life would be less boring.”

“Oh isn’t that the truth.” Piper agrees. “All I talk about is work and getting married. Which don’t get me wrong, I love. Big exciting things just don’t happen anymore.”

“At least they’re happening for Annabeth.” Hazel says, reaching over and patting Annabeth on the leg. “Ms. Big building in my bright future.”

Piper’s eyes widen. “Wait, are we talking skyline? Are you getting your skyline building?”

Annabeth’s confidence swells up again. “Don’t jinx it but possibly. My boss said I’ve been going above and beyond and there’s a building in my future.”

Piper squeals and throws her arms around Annabeth. “Finally!” she says, pressing kisses to Annabeth’s head. “You all know all I ever want to do is talk about Annabeth. She’s the smartest, prettiest, best, soon to be skyline architect and I cannot stress how much I don't care how sick all of you are hearing about her from me!”

Annabeth glows at the compliments, but rolls her eye at her friend’s words, showing her humble side, no matter how true they are. 

“Well, I somehow got stuck on the planning committee for the 10 year reunion.” Leo grumbles. “Apparently winning most school spirit in high school made this my business.”

“Prom King here got the summons as well” Piper says, motioning to Jason, “But he turned it down.”

“Lucky.”

“You guys are having your high school reunion?” Rachel asks, looking up from her paints to Annabeth. “I didn’t realize you were old.”

Annabeth could’ve probably latched on to the old comment, but her brain instead went to the reunion portion of the conversation. 

“Wait, reunion? Since when is there a reunion happening?”

“Since two weeks ago when I got the email.” Leo tells her. “It’s like a month from now.”

“Well.” Annabeth says, mentally penciling this into her calendar. “I’m going. I can’t wait to tell people from high school how successful I am.”

“Okay, now that’s an idea I can get behind.”

A moment later, a knock comes at the door, and Annabeth ignores the tense in her fist. Rachel runs up to grab the door. 

“Sorry. I’m looking for my friend’s apartment, is this right?” his voice comes. 

“I don’t know.” Rachel asks, leaning against the doorframe like it’s her own. “Is your friend the hot bossy blonde?”

Annabeth snorts. 

“Uh yeah, that’s her.”

“Well then, welcome.” Rachel says, opening the door to reveal Percy. 

Him and Annabeth make eye contact right away. He gives her that kind of awkward close lipped smile and she wants to punch him. Thankfully someone else is on the defense. Eero scampers from Hazel’s lap and plants himself in front of the intruder, giving a long hiss. Percy jumps back in surprise. 

Annabeth waits a second, before calling to the cat and pulling him off his prey. He crawls up to Annabeth and sits in her lap. 

“Good boy.” she mumbles, patting his head. 

“Sorry, I’m late.’ Percy says, kicking off his shoes. “What were we talking about?”

“The reunion.” Jason says, “and how successful Annabeth is. Just normal stuff.”

“Did you hear about the talks of a skyline building?” Piper asks. 

“Uh no, I haven’t.” he says, before turning to Annabeth. “You’re getting a building?”

Annabeth nods. “That’s the plan.”

Annabeth expects him to turn all cold like she’s been to him, but Percy isn’t like that. He’s not spiteful or bitter like she gets when she’s in a fight with someone. He just gives her a calm nod and tells her:

“I’m happy for you. After all the work you’ve put in, you deserve it.”

And yeah. She sure as hell does deserve it. And after a very successful craft night, Annabeth can't think about anything other than that day in the near future where all of her fights and sacrifices and years of slump pay off, and she gets to reap the rewards.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter! Yay!  
> I rewrote this one like a million times and I'm don't know if I'm completely happy with it, but this was my favorite draft by far. The next chapter after this is really going to mark the turning point of Annabeth starting to open herself up and realize what it means each time she attaches her self worth to her perceived achievements so I am completely excited to get into this phase of the story.   
> I hope you all are enjoying so far, and thank you for the comments and kudos. They mean the world.   
> New chapter up soon!


	9. This is it, Annabeth!

“Are you hungover?”

Annabeth shoots a glare at the unsuspecting Frank, ignoring the pounding in her head. Her alarm felt unusually early this morning. That’s probably what going to sleep at 4 then waking up at 6 does to you. Damn those cute wedding invitations she spent the night on.

“Do I look hungover?”

Frank chuckles, used to Annabeth’s attitude by now, and leans in close to get a good look at her bloodshot eyes, and newly cropped up adult acne. 

“Do you really want me to answer that?”

“Do you want to meet an untimely demise?” Annabeth asks, innocently. “I’d be happy to introduce you to the ledge of the building.”

“Hey hey hey.” Frank says, laughing a little more. “Why don’t we hold off on that until you can toss me off your own building?”

That perks Annabeth up a little bit. She smirks at Frank over the lip of her coffee. “That’s indefinite though.”

“Are you kidding? Haven’t you checked your email?”  
Well yeah, she had, but there’s been a lot of wedding stuff clogging it, so not too carefully. She shrugs at Frank’s question. 

“Boss called a meeting. It’s in like ten minutes.” Frank says, reaching out and shaking her shoulders. “This is it, Annabeth!”

As much as Annabeth could feign surprise or start to psych herself up for this surprise meeting, she doesn’t need to. Annabeth has been preparing for this day her entire life. THe inevitable culmination of all her effort. Knowing that she’ll enter this meeting and receive her dreams on a silver, building shaped, platter makes her feel like she’s wearing a suit of untouchable armor. Strong. Confident. Powerful. She hurriedly puts on some of that concealer she’s been wearing like a second skin these days, and brushes herself off. 

“Well then, let’s go.”

Frank smiles, and the two of them head towards the conference room, where the rest of the firm is migrating to. Frank takes a seat close to the front, but Annabeth continues on to her boss standing at the head of the table. 

“Good morning sir.” Annabeth says, “You’re looking well.”

“It is a good morning, isn’t it? Especially for you Chase. But I’m sure you know that by now.”

Annabeth smiles, her armor feeling especially impenetrable at his words. 

“I believe I do.”

He gives a nod, and a soft old smile. One she remembers seeing in her first interview. That kind where Annabeth feels like he really sees her, and all she can do.

“Have a seat. Relax. We’ll get started shortly.”

As Annabeth takes her seat, the minutes feel like years. She welcomes it though as that means more time to prepare the words of wisdom she’ll impart on her coworkers. Telling Malcolm to kiss her ass seems a little vulgar, but she’s not ruling it out completely. She also tries thinking of a list of people to thank, but it’s looking a little me, myself, and I at the moment. Maybe she’ll thank Frank for like, symbolic reasons? Hm. She’ll have to get back to that. The speech is second gear to the brewing building ideas. Sure she has piles upon piles of ideas blueprinted at home, but this definitely deserves something new. Something life changing. Something that she’ll start on as soon as she-

“Alright everyone, let’s get started.”

Annabeth quickly brushes her vaguely tangled hair back and focuses her attention back on her boss. 

“As many of you have noticed, one of your colleagues has been pushing boundaries in every aspect of their job. Stellar on their technical work. Collaborative and creative in group settings, and a stand out designer ever since they started working here. And all of you know how we here reward good behavior.”

Annabeth straightens her back even more. She’s hungry for this reward. It’s so close she can almost taste it. 

“So, when I saw this new project cross my desk, I knew just the person for the job.”

Her boss turns to look at her. 

“Annabeth Chase. Thank you for your efforts. And because of that work, you will be the proud new architect of…”

Annabeth leans forward in anticipation. 

“A brand new assisted living center in New Jersey!”

*

....

No. 

No no no no no no no. 

Hell fucking no. 

Annabeth takes a breath in but it’s shallow. Her boss keeps talking, but she literally can’t hear what he’s saying, even though she’s about a foot away. Her hands gravitate towards the thread of the chair and her fingers scratch and pick at the fabric, ripping at something physical as the thoughts going through her head are threatening to tear her apart. She’s so stupid. How could she have ever thought she was going to get her skyline building? No one hinted at it. She’s been stretching herself between so many things. She convinced herself that after these weeks of hell they’d _have_ to recognize her for her work. And they did. She just thought she was worth more than a house for geriatrics on the other side of the river. Guess not.

Annabeth barely catches the group being dismissed in her state, and she stumbles out of the room, replaying everything she had done over the past few weeks. Everything that she could have put more into. She could’ve taken on more opportunities. She could’ve- god, even been nicer to Malcolm and maybe just maybe she could’ve changed things. She could’ve made them see her. She feels a hand on her shoulder, and she turns around. It’s Frank. And it only takes a second of Annabeth seeing that sympathetic look on his face, and she elbows out of his grip and grabs her purse off her desk.

“Annabeth wait-” Frank says as she pushes past him. 

“I’m sorry, I can’t.”

*

“Ma’am?”

Annabeth blinks. She glances around, confused at her bustling surroundings. She’s not at work. She vaguely remembers ditching her heels and running out of the building, but everything after that is gone. And then all at once, the earth shattering memories of the morning come back to her. 

“Ma’am. If you’re wanting to go in that’s 26.95.”

Annabeth barely registers the words being spoken to her. She just rummages through her bag and tosses a 50 at the woman behind the desk before walking in. 

She feels disoriented. She’s stepped into crowds of people and suddenly has to push her way through; she feels just like she did in that meeting. Like she’s suffocating. Annabeth thought she would be so much angrier. She thought she was going to feel like she was exploding, but this is so much worse. 

She’s breaking down. Piece by piece the armor is tearing off, and with it, every achievement that Annabeth has ever proved herself in is erased by her biggest embarrassment. Her most obvious failure. 

She rakes her fingers through her hair and stumbles into the next dark room, barely looking up at the giant tanks on either side of her. 

Annabeth manages to see the big group of people coming towards her so she veers off to the side, pressing herself to the wall on the right side. 

“And if you’ll look over here, you’ll see the Sand Tiger Sharks. Now, I know these guys look scary with all those rows of teeth, but I promise you- they’re nice! They only attack if they’re bothered by- Annabeth?”

Annabeth is pretty sure she’s hallucinating at this point because she’s pretty sure she’s never bothered a Sand Tiger Shark so whatever that tour guide is-

Wait. 

Annabeth looks up and her breath catches when she sees Percy. She feels like she hasn’t seen him in years. He’s wearing a stupid uniform and his hair is all messed up and all the kids are staring at him because he stopped talking in the middle of the tour and god, it just makes Annabeth feel even more like shit. 

Because she threw away her friendship with him for the same reason she killed herself over her architecture work, and she got nothing in return. 

She watches Percy completely abandon his group and walk over to her. She steps back out of habit and bumps into the wall. He glances from her heels in her hand to her no doubt grief ridden face, and for once, Annabeth doesn’t even try to hide it. 

“Annabeth?” he says, so softly. “What’s going on? Are you alright?”

Annabeth shakes her head.   
“No?” Percy asks.

She shakes her head again, tears threatening to spill out. 

“No.”

*

Percy’s apartment is small, but nice. She’s been here about half an hour, laying back on his beat up couch, staring up at the ceiling, trying to think of something to say. But after breaking down in an aquarium and forcing poor Percy Jackson to take a half day to make sure she was okay, she really doesn’t want to burden him more with her problems. 

But, she owes it to him. 

She’s not unaware of the tea he left at her side, which she really has no time for. She’s always not unaware of the fact that Percy’s been sitting quietly in his blue arm chair and watching her. 

“Sorry.” she murmurs, so quietly she doesn’t even know if he hears her. 

“Annabeth, don’t be sorry. I don’t care about leaving work.”

Annabeth sighs. “I’m not just sorry about that. I’m sorry I was a dick to you.” she tells him. “I’ve just been dealing with stuff.”

A beat passes. “Do you want to talk about it?”

No. Really, she doesn’t. But that doesn’t stop her from doing it anyways. 

“I didn’t get the skyline building.” she admits. “And I worked really _really_ hard for it. It just feels like I put my all into things, and somehow I’m still not good enough.”

Annabeth waits. She almost wishes Percy doesn’t answer because she hates the idea he's seeing who she really is. 

“I think.. I think you put a lot of pressure on yourself.” is what Percy says. “I can only speak from where I’m standing, but I think you’re the only person who sees yourself as not good enough.”

What about my boss? Annabeth thinks. But then she chides herself on the immature nature of that thought. Percy’s trying to make her feel better.

“And it’s not like all your friends like you because of the buildings you build, or how good you are at planning the perfect wedding all on your own, you know? We like you for just being Annabeth.” 

Annabeth spares a glance at Percy. His words sinking in a little bit. 

She wants to tell him “Yeah! I know!” 

But she doesn’t. Annabeth’s always kind of measured her self-worth up with how good her grades were. How many college acceptances she got. All the stuff that she achieved. She has a hard time believing some people like her even when she feels like she’s failing at life.

Annabeth glances over at Percy. 

“I am sorry about the building though.” he tells her, holding her eye contact. “That’s bullshit.”  
Annabeth nods. “I know.” she says. “And thank you.”

She takes another breath in. This time it’s calm and deep. She sits up, and against her coffee consuming nature, she picks up the mug of Percy Jackson’s tea and takes a sip. It tastes nice. 

Annabeth gets quiet again, thinking to herself about her future. She wants to be that kind of person who has a breakdown, and changes her life in huge ways. She wishes she was the person who can quit their job when they’re unhappy and upend everything they know to put themselves in a better place. But that’s not her. 

So instead, Annabeth takes this moment to change her life in small ways. 

“Jackson.” she says. “I have three requests.”

“Okay.”

“First one.” she says, taking another deep breath. “I don’t want you to tell Piper about the aquarium. Or that I’ve been having a hard time.”

Percy frowns. “Annabeth. Did you even hear what I just said?”

“I heard you.” she says. “But Piper’s different. She puts me up on a pedestal, and I‘m not ready for her to find out I’m overworked and disappointing. Especially not when these months and this wedding are supposed to be the happiest time of her life, okay?”

Percy seems reluctant, but he gives in. “Okay.”

“Second.” this one is harder to get out. “I want your help planning the wedding. Real help. Not bullshit like before."

He smiles at that one, a real strong smile. “Deal.”

“And lastly.” she says, softly.

She hadn’t realized how much it affected her to lose a person like Percy who barely knew her yet still cared about her. So, she’s got one last pretty selfish, probably awkward request. 

“Can I have a hug?”

Percy’s blue-green eyes soften and he swiftly moves from his chair to the couch to capture Annabeth in a big warm hug. 

Annabeth smiles to herself as she wraps her arms around Percy's waist and hugs him back. 

Small ways, she reminds herself. And things will start to get better. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ouchie. This update hurt my heart but I'm so happy with how it turned out.  
> Ugh guys. I love Annabeth. I am so so excited for this chapter to be out cause I really thinks this marks a turning point in the fic. Things will be more fun, more free, more learning about ourselves and Annabeth actually getting to the good side of things. The rest of the plot will also definitely be more wedding centric which I am really excited for too!  
> Thanks everyone so so much for the kudos and comments! It feels like eons since I've written a romance fic, especially one about SOULMATES like percy and annabeth so your support means a lot!!  
> New update soon :)


	10. The Reunion

“So, you’re sure you got that covered?”

“Nah, I actually think I need you to take over.” Percy says, sarcastically. “Yes, Annabeth. For the hundredth time I have it covered.”

Annabeth makes a face and grabs the wedding magazine she threw on the floor about an hour ago to lob at Percy. It hits him square between the eyes, and Annabeth gives a satisfied smirk. Serves Percy right. She’s at least  _ trying  _ on the whole passing the reins to someone else-thing. 

The mistake Annabeth makes though, is underestimating Percy. Yes, he may have supported her in her tiny, insignificant, earth shattering breakdown and she may have spent every day since then in his tiny dirty apartment learning to work as a wedding planning team, but he’s still Percy. 

Which is why a second later the magazine has been fashioned into nothing short of a paper harpoon rubber banded together, and Percy launches it directly into Annabeth’s chest. 

“You fucker.” she grumbles, rubbing at her chest. 

Percy raises his hands in submission. “You threw the first hit. I just retaliated.”

“Whatever.” she says, moving on. “We have to get through this checklist if we’re getting to the meeting on time.”

“It’s not a meeting! We’re hanging out with our friends.” Percy tells her. “This is our free night!”

One of Percy’s better ideas was instituting a “free night” where the wedding gang simply hangs out aside from all the hectic planning. 

“Free night is Wednesday.” 

“Not this week. We’ve got the reunion tomorrow, so the majority of our wedding party and the bride and groom will be absent.”

Annabeth grimaces. “Do we really have to go to that thing?”

A month ago, Annabeth would have been happy to attend an event where she could gloat in her former classmate’s faces, but all that she had to gloat about when out the door when she started working on an assisted living home and hanging out with Percy Jackson.

“We’ve already talked about this.” Percy says, easing himself up out of his armchair and kneeling down in front of Annabeth. “You have nothing to worry about. I know it’s not skyline but you’ve still done a bunch of cool stuff. AND you just have to hang around me all night and everything will sound ten times more impressive next to the tour guide guy..”

“I know I know.”

“Good.” he says, giving her a pat on the knee. “I hate it when you get mopey. Well, more than the usual mopey.”

Annabeth gives him the finger, and he simply tosses his head back and laughs. 

“Now what are the last things on the list?”

Annabeth glances down. “We have to confirm our rentals and finalize catering.”

“You do catering and I’ll do the rental call.” Percy says. “Then we’ll head to Piper and Jason’s?”

Annabeth gives a nod. 

As she whips out her cellphone to call the catering company, she steals a glance at Percy. 

These past few weeks have been pretty rough for Annabeth. Having to kind of hanker down and accept that maybe she’s not skyline material in other people’s eyes has been really hard. That, on top of passing on wedding responsibilities, are hard pills Annabeth has been desperately trying to swallow, and Annabeth really doesn’t think she could’ve done it without Percy. 

She kind of opened herself up to guy against her will, but she is really grateful for him. Of course she’s not going to tell him that, but it is a start. 

*

To get to Piper’s they hop into Percy’s beat up old blue car and head straight into rush hour traffic. This car is a traffic magnet, Annabeth is sure of it. But Percy and her pass the time listening to his albums upon albums of dad rock and triple checking their wedding duties. 

When they arrive, the gang is already there. Piper, Jason, Leo, Hazel, and even Jason’s friend Nico managed to swing by as he is in town for the reunion. 

Their plan for free night is movie night, complete with popcorn and movie theatre candy that Hazel had provided. 

Free night is great. 

Annabeth grabs the hot tamales from the little basket on the table and settles in beside Piper. 

“How’s my perfect angel?” Piper asks.

“Just lovely, darling.”

Piper smiles. “I’m so glad. And oh! I’ve actually been meaning to ask you something.”

“Mm?”

“I know you have your hands full with the wedding.” Piper says. “Believe me, I know. But the thing is the new building I’ve moved the practice into has some weird zoning and renovation regulations that I really don’t understand. Because you’re such a genius, I was wondering if you might be able to help me with it sometime so I can figure out the possibility of an addition?”

Annabeth can almost  _ hear _ the little Percy on her shoulder asking her to not take on more projects than she already has, but she can see how hopeful Piper looks. She can’t not help her best friend. 

“Sure!” Annabeth agrees. “Just put it in the calendar and I’ll be there.”

“Thank you thank you thank you.”

The rest of movie night is pretty uneventful, which Annabeth is grateful for. The last eventful things in her life haven’t been the greatest, so she’s glad to just hang out with her friends. Obviously reunion talk comes up again. Piper is probably the most excited, but why wouldn’t she be? She’s just got more beautiful and successful since she graduated, and she’s engaged to the prom king. Annabeth could hardly think of a better place to be in to rub stuff in your former classmates faces. Annabeth on the other hand, is trying to give herself a small bout of encouragement to go by deciding to wear her black dress, the infamous one. That announcement of course, makes her friends go wild.

“I’ve been waiting to hear those words all my life.!!”    
“I’m so excited to see the fabled dress in person.”

Annabeth wants to deny the huge hype surrounding it but honestly, she looks  _ really  _ good in it. Annabeth sneaks a glance over at Percy, feeling this weird need to see his reaction to her words. He catches her eye, bottom lip tugged between his teeth, and he smiles. Heat flushes to her cheeks. But she can’t really help that. Compliments and smiles and attention are something she’s been missing. 

Maybe the reunion won’t be so bad after all. 

*

Okay, her assumption was half right. Annabeth knows she looks good. Her standing in front of the mirror trying to coif her virtually uncoiffable blonde curls into something nice gave her ample time to examine her appearance. But she felt gross and bad inside. As she was coming from work, she had to arrive on her own, and the idea of facing her insecurities in the form of people who were irrelevant in high school now being more successful than her is just awful. But, Annabeth is nothing if not determined. She straightens her shoulders, and holds her breath as she steps into the familiar high school gym. 

For a second, it’s like nothing has changed at all in the past ten years, but Annabeth shakes that out and heads to the front table. 

“Annabeth! So good to see you!” Silena Beauregard says as she approaches. The former prom queen even takes the time to step out from behind her table to give Annabeth a hug. “You look amazing!”

Annabeth manages a smile. Silena was definitely Piper’s friend, but she, like Percy, was always nice to Annabeth. “Thanks. You too.”

“Well here’s your nametag. Drinks are over there and all of the pictures are on the right wall. Enjoy your night!”

Annabeth thanks her and slaps the name tag onto her purse, not wanting to ruin the whole look she’s got going on with her dress. She scans the sizeable crowd in front of her, but is failing to locate any one of her friends.

She reaches into her purse and pulls out her cellphone, texting the groupchat, but before she hits send, she feels a hand on her shoulder. 

“There you are!” 

Annabeth turns around, hoping to find Percy. But it’s not. It’s Jason. 

Still, the sight of the blonde gives her a sigh of relief. “Hey, Jason.”

“Long time no see.” he says, giving a stupid smile. 

“I know, right.” 

“Everyone is sort of mingling.” he tells her. “But we were at the drinks last time, I checked. We can head there.”

Annabeth agrees to that. “I definitely need some wine.”

Jason chuckles. “Not too fond of the reunion scene?”

Annabeth shrugs, almost forgetting she had only confided in Percy about her fears. “Just not too fond of reliving high school.” 

Which is true, but not really the reason for her discomfort. 

But, to Annabeth’s surprise, Jason nods. “I get what you mean.”

“Really?” she asks, as they near the drink table. “I thought you loved high school.”

“I did, honestly. But now that I’ve seen the future, it’s a whole lot better than my past, you know?”

“I guess, yeah.”

“And you kind of hated me in high school.” Jason points out with a laugh. 

“I didn’t hate you!” Annabeth protests, just as they reach the drink table. Their friends are nowhere in sight. 

“Well, you didn’t exactly like me.”

Annabeth frowns, feeling guilty. She knows she wasn’t exactly warm to her best friend’s boyfriend in the past, but she never had any dislike for Jason whatsoever. He’s always been this super big hearted, kind of nerdy guy that really did try to reach Annabeth. It’s not his fault that she was just so boarded up. 

“I’m sorry.” she hears, tumbling from her mouth. “I’ve always liked you Jason, I’m just bad at-”

_ A lot of things.  _ Annabeth has come to realize. 

“I don’t know.” she continues. “Making friends. Dealing with my feelings. Focusing on things other than myself blah blah blah.”

Jason’s face softens. “I don’t think that’s true.”

Annabeth waves it away. “It is, but it’s okay. I got put in my place with the skyline situation so I’m getting better.”

Annabeth barely registers what’s coming out of her mouth. Maybe this is why she avoided Jason all those years. He makes it way too easy for you to just confide in him. 

“What happened with the skyline building?”

Shit. Stupid Annabeth. Stupid bringing that up. But, as Annabeth glances back up at Jason, arguably her closest friend behind Piper and Percy, she knows she can’t lie. 

“I didn’t get it.” she tells him, feeling that lump in her throat return. “But I’m okay. And no, I don’t really want to talk about it.”

A mix of emotions run over Jason’s face. Probably a mix of guilt, sympathy, and frustration, but it’s quick. His level headedness returns soon enough. 

“Screw them, Annabeth.” he says firmly. “I’ll gladly tell them all to go to hell.”

Annabeth can’t help but laugh. She really does see the same protectiveness in Jason as she does in Piper. She never really noticed it before, but it’s so clearly there. It also makes it clear to Annabeth that even the people she should’ve been nicer too, still care about her, which makes her feel even more warm on the inside. 

Annabeth pulls Jason into a hug, and buries her face in his shoulder. Hoping that can convey all the sorrys and thank yous still lingering on the tip of her tongue. 

Jason laughs too. His big goofy laugh, and hugs her back. 

“Let’s go find our friends, okay?” she asks. 

“Okay.”

*

“THE BLACK DRESS.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes, but still blushed at Leo’s booming announcement of her presence to the group. And yes, she gets all fawned over by Piper and Leo and Percy, and yes it does make her feel all good inside. Especially when Percy pulls her in for a hug when he sees her. 

“You clean up well.” is what he told her. Nothing special, but it made Annabeth feel warm in a different way. 

“So do you.” she told him in response. Despite the suit that was not much nicer than his prom attire, Percy looked really good. It’s not hard too when you’re good looking like he is. 

What? She has eyes you know. And spending weeks on end with the guy, made her pretty aware of the fact Percy is attractive. 

From then on, the reunion really isn’t that bad. Despite grim beginnings, Percy makes good on his promise and stays glued to her all night. He unashamedly promotes his job as a tour guide, and just as he predicted, anything that came out of Annabeth’s mouth sounded impressive in comparison. And the weirdest part, he seems to feel no shame at all. He said it himself. It’s not impressive, but he doesn’t care. He likes his job. Annabeth really really admires that about Percy. 

The night continues on. There are some speeches, from Leo and Jason in addition to others, a slideshow of videos and photos, and an almost spot on recreation of their prom. As The Black Eyed Peas comes over the speakers, Annabeth excuses herself to the bathroom. She relieves herself, and spends a second checking her phone and fixing her appearance in the mirror. It’s right after she touches up her lipstick, that she hears the song change. Barely managing to cap her lipstick, Annabeth finds herself running back out onto the dancefloor, searching for one person. 

She laughs at herself as she teeters on her heels, looking over the crowd, wanting so badly to recreate this Paramore-infused memory with-

“Annabeth!”

Annabeth grins at the hand reaching up out of the the crowd, waving her down. She presses through the other couples, and barely stops herself as she runs into Percy’s open arms. He catches her with a laugh. 

“I was looking everywhere for you!” Percy laughs. “I heard the opening chords, and I went like-’ he makes a display of his head whipping around wildly making Annabeth laugh more. 

“I’m here, I’m here.” she tells him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders more formally. His hands set on her waist, and the two begin to sway. 

As excited as they were at first, they don’t really talk much as the dance progresses. Annabeth finds herself just looking at Percy. 

Never in a million years could she have predicted she would be dancing with him ten years later. 

“This is kind of weird, isn’t it?” he says, noticing Annabeth’s stare. “Being back here again.”

“A little. More unexpected.”

He chuckles. “I’m sure you thought you wouldn’t see me again after high school.”

Annabeth chuckles, dipping her head a little. “Well, yeah.”

“I’m glad I did though.” she continues. “You’re not horrible to be around.”

Percy laughs, unconsciously pulling Annabeth a little closer. 

“Wow, I’m blushing.”

“Shut up.”

Annabeth takes advantage of the fact Percy had looped his arms around her waist, and leans her head onto his shoulder. He gives an appreciative hum, which has Annabeth relaxing even more into his hold. 

“I mean it. You’re really really not horrible to be around.”

Percy chuckles softly, thumbs rubbing circles at her lower back. “Well, you’re really really not horrible to be around too.”

*

“Holy shit! Get a fuckin room!”

Annabeth is pulled from her little bubble of dancing with Percy by the abrupt end of the song, and Leo’s shrill voice. She pulls back just enough to glare at Leo. 

“How would you like to be dead?” 

Leo cackles, and hightails it out of her field of vision. Despite feeling a primal urge to never leave Percy’s grip, Annabeth decides to step back all the way. 

Percy clears his throat. “You wanna find Piper?”

“Yeah. Yeah that sounds good.”

And they do. Annabeth, feeling warm warm warm, does practically the same run into Piper’s arms that she did for Percy. She just feels good. Being surrounded by all her friends makes her feel good in this very specific way, that’s really new. 

And she loves it. 

*

The night winds down. Jason relives being crowned Prom king, Piper and Annabeth actually reenact their talent show entry from freshman year when their song comes on, and all of Annabeth’s reunion-specific fears start to feel really irrelevant. It’s not like all her problems are fixed. But tonight kind of showed her she’s moving towards a future where they are. Where she’s really, actually, happy. 

Annabeth shucks off her heels as their group heads outside. Jason’s crown is slung over Piper’s head because it was too small for Jason’s head, and Leo is wearing Percy’s jacket as he got cold the second he stepped outside. It makes Annabeth smile. 

“We all look stupid.” she confirms aloud. 

“Yes we do.” Piper agrees. “But hey, that’s the mark of a good night, is it not?”

“I’d have to agree.” Leo chimes in. 

Annabeth nods. “I think you’re right.”

Annabeth gives hugs to Piper and Jason, and even Leo, because she’s feeling generous tonight. Then, as it usually turns out, it’s just her and Percy again. 

“You walking my way?” he asks, gesturing towards the subway station. 

“You know I am.”

They walk closely, shoulders brushing against each other every once in awhile. 

Percy starts rambling about some of his old friends, and other high school memories that got unearthed over the course of the night. Annabeth inputs a little, but mostly just listens to Percy talk. 

Once they reach the crossroads, the point where they’re turning corners and going their separate ways, Percy stops. 

“Well, I’m this way.” he tells her. 

She nods, quickly and a bit awkwardly tugging him into a hug. 

“Night Percy.”

He hugs back, and pulls his head back enough to plant a soft kiss on Annabeth’s cheek. 

He parts from her, the slightest hint of redness dusting over the bridge of his nose.    
“Night.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about such a long gap between this and the last update ya'll! I've recently become re-employed so the eight hour days have not been to kind in giving me time to write. 
> 
> Also truth be told, I feel like I've never really found my footing with this fic. I've enjoyed writing it when i do, but often feel a little less excited to write than I would like so I think I'm putting this fic on a hiatus! I'll update it if the feeling overtakes me but not regularly anymore!
> 
> I apologize for anyone who has been enjoying and I thank you endlessly for the kudos and comments!

**Author's Note:**

> GUESS WHOS BACK! It's been such a long time wow! (maybe 4 months lol)  
> Welcome to the long awaited Percabeth fic!! We all know I'd get to it eventually.  
> Anyways this is going to be a good ol' fashioned love story. Idk about ya'll but the state of the world is bumming me out so I wanted to bring a little sweetness into it with a new fic!  
> Updates will probably be sporadic at first but aren't they always haha.  
> Enjoy!  
> And don't forget to message me on my tumblr (gracesjasons) to talk about my fics, pjo/hoo, whatever! :)


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